


Open A Tab

by MicrosuedeMouse



Category: Frozen (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bar/Pub, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Human!Bulda - Freeform, Human!Grand Pabbie, Human!Olaf, Hurt/Comfort, Oneshot, dog!Sven, mild pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-11 22:09:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 28,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16861183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MicrosuedeMouse/pseuds/MicrosuedeMouse
Summary: Kristoff is just fine with his quiet life - a steady job, a loving family, a small home to share with a large dog. A favourite bar where he can unwind after work. When a tiny, stressed-out redhead stumbles into the Frosty Crocus one evening and takes the empty seat next to him, he tries not to get into her business, but that strategy doesn't seem fated to work out for him.





	Open A Tab

**Author's Note:**

> I've been working on this on and off since... May, apparently. At some point it got a lot longer than I originally anticipated! I'm kind of a sucker for really detailed AUs that make lots of little parallels to the source material, and I guess somewhere along the twenty-four year journey that has been my life so far, I actually developed the patience to write them. Neat.
> 
> Also, at some point while writing this I consulted the Disney wiki (I think looking for the names of some of the trolls) and learned about various side characters from the various Frozen books and things, and some of them definitely show up in here one way or another. I don't know much about them, having learned about them exclusively from the wiki, but I just kind of thought it would be fun to throw them in there? I think that includes Soren, Rockwell, and Florian.
> 
> I'm currently taking a page out of 2017-me's book and trying, this December, to finish/edit/post as many of this year's WIPs as I can manage. Of course, going back over this one has me thinking about other Kristanna things I want to write... so uh, you might be seeing some more of me sometime soon. We'll see.
> 
> In the meantime: enjoy.

Kristoff sighed and stared into his glass, trying to decide if he wanted another drink. It had been a long day, so eventually he decided to indulge himself, glancing up to toss a wave at the nearby bartender. As he did, a tiny, tired-looking young woman dropped onto the stool next to him – the only open seat left in the Frosty Crocus.

The bartender – a newer guy, and _painfully_ chipper, but it wasn’t yet quite enough to drive Kristoff out of his favourite bar – came over, glancing sympathetically at the girl as he refilled Kristoff’s glass. “You look like you’ve had a rough day,” he commented, and she nodded. “Can I getcha something to take the edge off?”

“Gimme a dark and stormy,” she sighed, leaning against the bar. “Matches my mood.”

“You got it.” Turning to the back wall to grab a fresh glass, the bartender asked her, “What’s wrong, huh? Get it off your chest.” Kristoff frowned slightly, because the place was packed and there definitely wouldn’t be time for this girl to actually vent, but he wasn’t a snoop. He tried to focus on his own drink.

“God, I just – it’s been a crazy day,” she answered. “’Cause, you know, I _thought_ it started out _great_. I got engaged! And I’m really excited about it, because my boyfriend and I have been so happy together! But then I got home and tried to tell my sister about it, thinking she’d be happy for me, but she just… just _blew up_. She doesn’t want me to marry him at all, and like, I guess I probably didn’t handle it super well, because I was _startled_ , but then she got so freaked out and angry that she took off completely. I don’t know where the hell she went. I’ve been looking for her for like three hours now… I finally had to give up for the night.”

“Oh, sweetheart, that _is_ a lot,” the bartender said, pushing her finished drink towards her. He was about to say something else when he noticed someone waving him down a few seats away. “Okay, kid, hang on, I gotta run. Kristoff here’ll take care of you.” He waved vaguely at a surprised and disgruntled Kristoff before dashing away.

The girl turned towards him, puzzled, and frowned when she caught his expression. Kristoff, at a loss, glanced down at her and shrugged. “Of all the times for him to finally remember my name…”

She spared him a smile, but she was clearly stressed. “Sorry. I’ll leave you alone.”

Kristoff hesitated. Normally he liked to stay out of other people’s business and keep them out of his, but she really _did_ seem strung out, and after a moment he cracked. “Uh, I never caught your name.”

She glanced up, considering him for a second, and then said, “Anna.”

“Anna.” He nodded, glancing her up and down. She was cute, in a kind of hapless way – long coppery-red hair coming out of its braids, wide blue eyes, and a green t-shirt askew across her shoulders. “Kristoff. I guess you got that.” Clearing his throat awkwardly, he added, “Sorry to hear about your day. That’s… well. It’s shitty.” He shrugged.

“Yeah. Yeah, can’t disagree with you there,” she agreed, rubbing her temple. “I just… you know, things were going well. Or I thought they were going well, anyway. It’s… I mean, it’s just been Elsa and me since our parents passed away a few years ago. And we just moved here last year. I thought it would be a fresh start, you know? Especially since she’s had such a rough time the last few years. She has an important job and everything, which has been going great as far as I can tell. Like six months ago I went with her to some fancy business mixer party thing, and that’s when I met Hans, and we just hit it off _so well._ And I knew Elsa felt like we kinda rushed into things, but I still thought she’d be happy for me when he proposed, you know? But she totally freaked out and said no way and I was like look, I’m not a _child_ , this is my _life_ , but she wouldn’t _listen_ , and after a while she just… just ran out of the apartment. She’s not picking up her phone or anything. I don’t know what to do.” The way it all came tumbling out, she’d obviously really needed to get it out of her system, but that didn’t mean Kristoff knew what to do about it.

“I… wow, yeah. That’s a lot in one day.” He frowned, realising something. “Wait, sorry, did you say you met this guy _six months_ ago? And you’re already engaged?”

Anna immediately went on the defensive. “Oh, don’t you start! I love him!” she squawked. “And he loves me! We’re _super_ compatible. I _know_ it’s fast, but we’re really happy together!”

He raised his eyebrows, half-concerned and half-skeptical. “So… where is he tonight?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean like… right now.” Kristoff gestured around. “He proposed to you today, and then you both just… went home? Separately? And then on top of that, your sister took off on you and you spent three hours looking for her and he’s just… not here?”

“He’s… he’s busy,” she defended, unconvincingly. “He’s got an important position in his company, and he’s had a lot to do lately. But he’s been answering my text updates.”

“Okay,” he answered, turning his attention back to his glass. “Sure.”

She smacked him in the arm. “Jerk.” Glancing at her phone again – no new notifications – she sighed. “I need another drink.”

“Hey Olaf,” Kristoff called, raising a hand. The obliviously cheerful bartender looked up, red eyebrows high on his pale face. “Let’s get another round for feistypants over here.”

An hour and a half later, Anna was _wasted_ , but at least Kristoff had convinced her not to go back out into the street to hunt for her sister some more. “She’s a grown woman,” he insisted. “I’m sure she’s just gone to a friend’s house for the night or something to blow off steam. She’ll call you in the morning, I guarantee you.”

“She doesn’ _have_ any friends,” Anna slurred, leaning her head against his shoulder, face flushed. He should _not_ have let her have three strong drinks and two shots, especially in so short a time – that much was more than apparent. Frowning, he wondered why he was taking responsibility for this. She was an adult. “’S just the two ’f us.”

“She’s _fine_ ,” he repeated. “I’m certain of it. You, on the other hand, _really_ need to get home. Did you walk here?” She nodded, and he pulled his phone out of his pocket. The bar was far emptier now – it was a weeknight, after all – so it was quiet enough for him to call her a cab without leaving his seat. He let her lean on him until the cab arrived, and then he walked her out to meet the car, tipping the driver and seeing them off.

Olaf was watching with interest when Kristoff came back inside to pay off his tab for the week. “How’s she holding up?” he asked, stacking up abandoned glasses from around the room.

“She’ll have a hell of a headache in the morning, but I think she’ll be all right,” Kristoff answered, leafing through the cash in his wallet. “She’s a tough one, seems like.” Then he tossed the bartender a dirty look. “Kinda rude of you to saddle me with her like that, man. Aren’t bartenders supposed to be great listeners, or whatever?”

Olaf shrugged, smiling pleasantly. “It all worked out,” he answered simply.

-

Several days later Kristoff was back at the Frosty Crocus for another after-work drink when he saw Anna reenter the bar. She lit up when she saw him, and he rolled his eyes but smiled back, letting her take the stool next to him once again. The bar was emptier that night – it was a Wednesday, after all – but she clearly wanted to sit with him. “Hey,” she greeted, smiling. “I was hoping I’d see you again. I wanted to thank you for calling a taxi the other night. I don’t know how I would’ve made it home otherwise.”

“Don’t mention it,” Kristoff answered, waving it off and glancing away awkwardly. He never knew how to respond to being thanked. “How are you doing?”

She sighed, leaning forward against the counter slightly. “Not awesome. I haven’t seen or heard from Elsa yet. Her secretary told me she called in and said she’s taking a few weeks off for emergency personal leave, so I have to assume she’s all _right_ , but I don’t know anything more than that, really.”

He paused, genuinely taken aback. “I’m– I’m sorry,” he stammered after a second. “I, uh… I really didn’t expect that. I figured it would blow over.”

Anna nodded. “I hoped it would. But I guess this is all… more serious than I realised. I dunno. I just wish I knew what was going on with her.” She gestured vaguely, as if unsure how to even express the situation she was in.

“Yeah. Damn.” He swallowed, then waved Olaf over. “Hey, can we get Anna a drink over here?”

“You got it,” the ginger answered, holding a finger in the air while he tapped at his register before scooting over. “By the way, Kristoff, I’m gonna need you to pay your tab for this week tonight,” he added in a low voice before turning to take Anna’s order.

“What? Why?” Kristoff furrowed his brow. “You know I’m good for it. I get paid on Friday.”

“Yeahhh…” Olaf grinned awkwardly. “It’s just that Oaken is coming in tonight, and you know how he feels about that…” Placing a glass on the counter, he grabbed the vodka from behind him and the orange juice from a nearby fridge.

Kristoff frowned deeply. “Oaken can take his new rules and stick them–”

“Who’s Oaken?” Anna interrupted, taking the screwdriver Olaf had just finished mixing for her.

“The owner,” Olaf answered.

“The _new_ owner,” Kristoff emphasised. “He bought the Frosty Crocus – what, five or six months ago? And brought in all these new rules. Like he doesn’t like people carrying their tabs over from one day to the next.”

“Kristoff _kinda_ gets away with it,” Olaf explained. “Because he’s a regular, and the other bartenders know him, plus he knew the old owner really well. So people know he’s reliable. But I’m the new guy, and since I’m in alone tonight, Oaken’s gonna be on me to get him to pay.” He shrugged helplessly.

“Speak of the devil,” Kristoff added with another frown, looking past Olaf. Anna followed his gaze, raising her eyebrows in surprise. Oaken, who had just come through a door behind the far end of the bar, was a big enough man to make Kristoff look small, with a big mustache and a cheerful smile. He greeted a few customers in a friendly tone as he came their way.

“Hello, miss!” he said to Anna, waving. “I don’t believe I’ve seen you here before! I hope you’re having a lovely night!”

“Um, yes!” she answered, looking slightly puzzled. “This is only my second time here, but it’s a very nice bar.”

“Great to hear!” he said. Then he noticed Kristoff beside her and frowned. “This gentleman isn’t giving you any trouble, I hope?”

“What – Kristoff? No, he’s, uh, he’s a friend,” Anna told him, even more confused now.

“Hmm.” Oaken nodded once, eyes narrowed now, and then turned to Olaf, tipping his head towards Kristoff and raising his eyebrows meaningfully. After a moment, Olaf gave a little nod and an uncomfortable smile, and then Oaken moved on.

“Sorry, Kristoff,” Olaf mumbled, turning back towards him. “You’re definitely gonna have to pay tonight.”

Kristoff grunted. “Guess it’s just the one drink tonight.”

As Olaf trotted off to help another bar patron, Anna looked at Kristoff. “Jeez, okay, you weren’t kidding. That dude _definitely_ doesn’t like you.”

“Yeah.”

“Why don’t you like… just go to a different bar?”

Kristoff glanced at her, making a face. “For one, this one’s only a few blocks from home. Most nights I just walk over. For another, it’s still my _favourite_ bar. Plus, going somewhere else actually still wouldn’t rid me of Oaken. When he bought the place, one of the stipulations of the contract was to keep the same maintenance contractors – the old owner was a good guy, that way. I’ve been servicing the A/C and furnace here for like four years.”

“Oh, okay!” She nodded with polite interest – though, to Kristoff’s surprise, it didn’t seem to be feigned. Not many people found his job interesting, but she looked genuinely curious now. “So is that what you do professionally?”

“Uh, yeah.” He took a sip of his beer. “Mostly A/C, really. Maintenance, repairs, installations. But I can do furnaces and stuff too. It’s all kind of along the same lines.”

“That’s cool!” Anna said, leaning forward on her elbow. “Sorry– no pun intended. It’s just, uh, you know, I spent a lot of my childhood teaching myself all kinds of skills and hobbies just to keep busy. I was always curious about mechanical things, but that’s a little harder to learn on your own, especially when there are people deliberately keeping you out of the boiler room.” She grinned. “But I have so much respect for people with the know-how to handle that stuff!”

Kristoff was taken aback. This was more or less the opposite of the usual response he got to his career. “Um, thanks?” He blinked, trying to come up with a more eloquent response. “I mean – it’s a job I just kind of… fell into. But it suits me. And, I mean, it pays the rent and everything, so.”

“Yeah, for sure. I just work in an office right now, and it’s nothing I’m super enthusiastic about. I really love seeing people who’ve found careers that really work for them.” She smiled brightly, then bit her lip and glanced at her phone. “Speaking of work… damn. I should get home. Early morning tomorrow.”

“Leaving already?” he asked, so automatically he didn’t have time to stop himself. She looked at him in mild surprise, and he smiled awkwardly, admittedly surprised at _himself_.

“Yeah, well…” She glanced down, smiling slightly. “You know, I just wanted to find you again and say thanks. Unfortunately I really _should_ get going if I want to get enough sleep tonight.”

“Well – you’re welcome, I guess,” Kristoff answered woodenly. “Um… good luck, and stuff. With everything. I’m sure it’ll work out.”

She met his eye again then, her smile growing a bit. “Thank you. I really appreciate it.” Finishing the last sip of her drink, she gave him a nod before getting up and heading over towards Olaf’s register.

Kristoff watched her leave a moment later, feeling a little odd. He supposed that was probably that – there went Anna, a girl who’d walked into his life and back out a few days later. She was nice, but – well, he wasn’t going to pursue that thought any further.

He turned back to his beer, frowning to find it empty.

-

The next day Kristoff’s job sent him to a fancy upscale condo pretentiously called the North Mountain. It wasn’t an uncommon place for him to end up – in places this big the AC needed maintenance all the time. He really thought nothing of the day until he happened to come through the lobby, going back to his truck to grab another toolbox, and passed a tall woman talking with the doorman about preparing to move in. Aside from the platinum-blonde braids and the dramatic eyeshadow, she looked a _lot_ like Anna. When he came back, toolbox in hand, she was gone. It made him wonder, but he had no way to double-check or even to contact Anna if he _did_ find something out, so he let it slide.

Until he ran into Anna again, a few days later, back at the Frosty Crocus.

“Oh. Hi,” he greeted in surprise when she took the seat next to him again. “I uh… didn’t expect to be seeing you again.”

Anna grinned, a little sheepishly. “Yeah, I actually didn’t really _expect_ to be coming back,” she told him, shrugging and waving to Olaf. “But, um, I like it here? And I like – you, if that’s okay to say? I dunno. I’m not… I don’t get out much. But I realised it’s kind of nice.” She turned away just long enough to order.

“Well.” He tipped his head to one side. “I guess that’s as good a reason as any to come back. So… how are you tonight, then?”

“I’m fine. Better, actually, now. I think this place makes me relaxed.”

“I think alcohol makes you relaxed.”

“I literally don’t even have a drink in my hands yet,” she pointed out, spreading her empty fingers wide in demonstration.

Kristoff watched her sideways, raising an eyebrow. Then, after a pause, he braced himself and asked the unavoidable question. “How are things going with your sister?”

She sighed, her smile slipping away. “Not… not good. I’m pretty sure she’s okay, because there are read receipts on all my texts, but she hasn’t answered me yet. And I have no idea where she is.”

“Seriously? It’s been like nine days!” He frowned into his beer.

“I know!” Anna spread her hands on the bar on either side of the drink Olaf had just delivered. “I’m really worried! I don’t know what to do! Hans is helping me get the word out online, and look after the apartment and stuff, but I’m totally lost on how to actually _find_ her. I hate it.” She picked up the drink and swallowed nearly half of it in one gulp. “I just– I just really need her to come _home_. When we were kids we kind of grew apart for a long time and I never knew why, and it got even worse after mom and dad died. When we moved we finally started getting really close again, and I was _so_ glad, because we really only have each other. Being apart from her like this, with her not even _talking_ to me, is just… it’s a lot.” She took another long draught of her drink, but Kristoff didn’t miss the sniff she was trying to hide.

Carefully he put a hand on her back. “Hey. It’s gonna be okay, one way or another,” he comforted, a little uncertainly. He was trying his best. “I mean, not answering you at all is shitty of her. It honestly is. But I’m sure she just needs time to sort out her feelings, or whatever. She’ll come back around.”

“I hope you’re right,” she said, staring down into her now-empty glass.

Kristoff took back his hand, thinking, and finally heaved a sigh. “Do you, uh… do you have a picture of her or anything?” he asked falteringly. “You know, so I can. Um. Watch out for her.”

“Yeah,” she sniffed, nodding. She dug her phone out of her pocket and swiped across the screen a few times, opening up a shot of a girl that looked just like her, though platinum blonde and a little more mature. He looked at it for a second, then sighed again, twisting the bottle in his hands. Before he could figure out how to say what he had to say, Anna began to cry. “I’m sorry,” she managed, rubbing at her eyes. “I-I just…”

“Hey, now, hang on a second,” he stammered, concerned. “Uh–” Waving to Olaf, he asked the bartender to put both drinks on his tab, then got to his feet, placing his hands on Anna’s shoulders. “Come on, let’s– let’s get you some fresh air for a minute, yeah?” Nodding, she let him steer her across the room, out the doors, and into the breezy evening. He glanced around and then drew her over to perch on the edge of a large wooden planter outside the bar. Seated there, he kept one hand lightly on her shoulder until she was able to pull herself together.

“Th-thanks,” she said after a while, drying her eyes against the sleeve of her denim jacket.

“Listen, I need to tell you something,” Kristoff sighed. She looked up at him curiously, and he grimaced. “I’m pretty sure I saw your sister while I was working a few days ago.”

“ _What?_ ” she squawked. “Where?”

“Up at the North Mountain,” he answered. At her still-puzzled look, he elaborated, “It’s one of those giant condos uptown?”

“I don’t know it,” she confessed. “I still don’t really know my way around the city very well…”

“By the lake. It’s on Lakeside, near the intersection with Range Road?” When she shook her head again, he paused, thinking. Then he registered he’d already closed his hand around his keys in his pocket and figured that constituted a decision. “You want me to show you?” he asked with another sigh.

“Um, sure?” Anna answered, now both distressed and bewildered. “I mean – yeah, obviously.”

“How do you feel about motorcycles?”

 

She felt tiny behind him on the seat, but her grip on him was startlingly strong. He was driving carefully because he didn’t have a second helmet – he’d never had a second rider – but her arms were wrapped around his middle like a vise nonetheless. He supposed he couldn’t blame her.

The drive was about twenty minutes, because it was late and traffic was light. When Kristoff pulled up to the curb next to the condo and settled one foot on the ground, Anna leapt off so quickly he’d think she was trying to get away from him, if he didn’t know any better. She stared up at the building, and he barely managed to jump off the bike himself in time to grab her arm and prevent her from charging up to the door.

“Hang on! What do you think you’re doing?” he asked her, removing his helmet.

“I’m going in there!” she answered. “I have to go talk to Elsa!”

“Yeah, I don’t know about that,” he told her, raising his eyebrows.

“Why not?” she demanded. “I’ll just go in and–”

“And what?” Kristoff asked, loosening his hold on her arm, but ready to grab her again if need be. “This place is pretty swanky. There’s a doorman to get past, for starters – what would you tell him? ‘My sister ran off and won’t answer my calls but I think she’s somewhere inside this building’? And then even if he _did_ let you in, how would you find her? You have no idea which condo she’s in.”

“Well– well _you_ could get in, right?” she tried, gnawing her lip. “You said you saw her here while you were working!” She folded her arms tight against her chest, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. It was so strange, how quickly her moods could shift – how easily she could relax at the bar, but how rapidly all the tension could bubble back to the surface when faced with new information about her sister.

“Yeah, it’s not like that,” he said, shaking his head. “I repair air conditioning units, remember? I get called to places like this all the time, especially in the summer. But that doesn’t mean I can just waltz in at any hour of the day or night.”

Anna frowned deeply, turning to stare up at the building again. It was all clean, modern lines, with huge windows and expensive-looking carpets in the well-lit lobby. “Well then what should I do? I _have_ to go talk to her.”

“I know you do,” he sighed. “But you can’t just charge in. I… honestly, I don’t know why I thought bringing you here was a good idea. But you have to come up with an actual approach to this problem. This isn’t a winging-it situation, Anna.”

“I… you’re right,” she said finally, her shoulders slowly drooping. “Damn it. She’s so close, and yet…” Her eyes grew wet, and he wondered if he’d always been such a soft touch, because he felt bizarrely helpless.

“I know. I’m sorry.” Kristoff tapped his fingers against the helmet still in his arm. “Listen. It’s the middle of the night, which isn’t the right time to figure any of this out, and especially not standing out on the sidewalk in the cold. Can I give you a lift home? And then you can at least sleep on the issue.”

She sighed, obviously dejected, and he felt guilty for bringing her. Why hadn’t he just pointed it out on a map on his phone, or something? Why did he _take_ her there? “Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. Thanks, Kristoff.” Running a hand back through her hair, she nodded. “I could call a cab if you want. My place is like… on the far side of the Frosty Crocus. Almost all the way downtown.”

“I’m almost as far,” he said with a shrug. It was a bit of a fib, but she didn’t seem to notice. “Besides, I don’t have to get up early or anything. Come on, it’s the least I can do.” Maybe it was the tears, but he urgently wanted to help this girl all of a sudden, even though he barely knew her.

“Okay.” She looked up again, venturing an awkward smile, and he returned it with as much warmth as he could muster through his guilt. “Thanks.”

Just over forty minutes later, he pulled up outside of her apartment building. She stepped carefully off the bike and turned to face him, and he took the helmet off again to talk. “I was thinking on the drive,” she said. “Maybe I could contact her again and tell her someone told me they saw her up there – maybe even just like, in that neighbourhood. Let her know I know where she is, at least sort of. Maybe with that she’ll be more willing to respond in some way?”

“That sounds like a better start than storming the palace gates,” Kristoff agreed with a nod, and she laughed slightly. “Hey, good luck. I mean it.”

“Thanks,” she answered. “For everything.”

“Yeah… welcome,” he answered, again a little uncomfortably. His people skills were rustier than he’d realised – he knew he was bad at responding to gratitude, but this was worse than usual.

“See you around?”

“I’m sure you will,” he agreed with another nod. Anna waved and headed inside, and once she was through the door he pulled his helmet back on and headed home.

-

The next time Kristoff saw Anna was the following Saturday, when the bar was once again stuffed. She was clearly looking for him when she came in, and when she spotted him she made a beeline straight for him. He wondered if she ever came in when he wasn’t there, and then he realised with a grimace that he was there most nights – if only for one drink before heading back home – and wondered if he should be taking a closer look at his habits. Then she was squeezing herself into the space between him and the next patron – no empty stools in sight, this time – and saying, “I keep meaning to offer to trade numbers or something.”

“What, you don’t like having to hunt me down?” he joked.

She rolled her eyes. “Well, if I’m honest, you haven’t been super hard to find. You’re a _little_ predictable.”

“Clearly I need to find a new bar.” He took a sip of his beer and peered at her sideways. “So… how are things going?”

Her smile lost a bit of its shine, and she gave a short sigh. “Rough,” she admitted.

Kristoff nodded. It was about the answer he’d expected. “So… you wanna talk about it?” He was almost surprised to hear himself say it. He hadn’t had many close friends in a while, but Anna had clearly grown on him.

She softened. “Yeah,” she said. “That would be nice.”

Kristoff turned on his stool and glanced around the room. “There,” he said, lifting a finger off his beer bottle to point towards a corner booth. “I think they’re about to leave. I’ll go snipe the table if you wanna get yourself a drink.”

“Sounds good,” she agreed. “I’ll be over in a minute.”

Kristoff manoeuvered his way through the crowd and reached the table just as its occupants were getting to their feet. He gave them a polite nod as they left, and then he slid onto the padded bench. A few minutes later Anna joined him with a tall glass of cider in one hand. Trailing behind her was Olaf, carrying a tray bearing another cider, another one of Kristoff’s beers, and a large order of fries. “On the house, for my two favourite customers!” he said cheerfully, placing the fries squarely in between them as Anna sat opposite Kristoff. Leaving their drinks and giving Anna a friendly wink, he turned on his heel and headed back towards the bar.

“He’s still trying to get on my good side,” Kristoff joked with a snort. The fact was, the bartender clearly adored Anna, and probably didn’t much care about Kristoff’s opinion.

She laughed lightly. “I’m sure he is.”

“So,” he said, snagging a fry. “You wanna tell me what’s on your mind?”

She sighed and nodded, fidgeting with one of the disposable coasters on the table. “It’s been a long week,” she told him. “I did what I said I would – texted her and said I knew she was at the North Mountain and everything. Asked her again to talk to me. She finally responded – just one really short text though, saying yeah she was there but she still wasn’t ready to talk so would I please just leave her alone. Which… I tried _so_ hard to do. For a couple days I did my best not to even touch my phone. And then I had a bad night on like… Thursday I think? And I left her this really long voicemail and everything, but I still haven’t heard back. And I just really, really want to know how to fix this. I miss her so much.”

Kristoff wondered about reaching across the table to squeeze her shoulder or something, but in the end he stayed put. “Uh, what about Hans? Are you guys okay? He’s helping out still, I guess?”

“Yeah, we’re okay. But I haven’t seen much of him since everything is so busy. It’s– okay, I think I need to give you some context for all of this.” She ate a few fries, took a long sip of her drink, and then spread her hands on the tabletop. “So, when I was growing up, my dad ran a business. An investment firm. Smallish, but profitable, and well-reputed – people liked him. He was all about integrity and honesty and all that. So anyway, Elsa had been working for and learning from him for a couple years when mom and dad died. She was eighteen by that point, so she inherited the business, but she wasn’t ready to deal with it, so she closed everything down. When we moved here last year, part of the whole thing was reopening the firm – Elsa took a bunch of courses online and felt like she was ready to run things now. We figured it would be easier to do if we moved into the city. I’ve been working for her too, but only as like… not exactly a receptionist I guess, but close enough. I don’t have a head for business or numbers, you know? And I don’t think it’s what I want to do, but I’m still figuring it out.” She glanced up, and Kristoff nodded again, hoping she’d come back around to the point sometime soon. “Anyway, so, I think I told you, but when Elsa took off she called in and said she was taking a ‘medical leave’ from work, I guess. And we’re still a small firm right now, all things considered, so people kind of looked to me to keep things going, because technically I’m the next in command or whatever, being Elsa’s sister? But like I said, I have _no_ idea how to do that. Hans _does_ , though – I mean, we originally met at a fancy business event. He comes from a family business too, but a bigger and better-established one, and he actually went to school for all of this. So he’s kind of taken on a lot of that responsibility for me, making sure the whole firm doesn’t fall apart in Elsa’s absence. And that means I can focus on getting her to come home. But it also means that Hans has been _super_ busy with all of that, and I’ve been pretty distracted with my sister… we’ve barely seen each other, to be honest.”

“And you’re… okay with that?” Kristoff asked, frowning slightly. He understood that the business had to go on, but it also seemed to him that right now Anna needed support. It probably wasn’t great for her to be left dealing with this situation alone.

“Yeah!” she answered, sounding less convinced than she maybe intended. “Of course! I mean, it’s what makes sense, right?”

“Sure.” He reached for the fries again. “This all sounds really stressful, though. Are you dealing okay?”

Anna looked down into her drink, already three-quarters gone. “I’m… fine,” she tried, but then she glanced up again and saw the doubtful look he gave her. “Okay. I’m not all that fine. I mean, look at this.” She combed her fingers through the front of her hair, holding out a strand from right next to her bangs. “I’m so strung out I’m going white.”

“Aw, man, you _are_ ,” he agreed, leaning forward to peer at it. “Damn. I mean, it’s not– it’s not a _bad_ look,” he added suddenly, glancing back to her face. It wasn’t like him to stumble over his words, but here he was. “But, yeah, you must be _really_ stressed out for that to be happening already.”

She nodded, groaning. “It’s the worst.” Polishing off the last few fries, she started in on her second cider.

Kristoff hesitated, then lifted a hand. “My mom’s a hairstylist,” he said slowly. “I bet she could clean those right up for you. I mean, if you wanted.” Feeling oddly nervous, he glanced down into his beer bottle.

“Really?” she asked brightly. “That would be so awesome! I don’t have a go-to hairdresser here yet anyway. Do I need to book an appointment?”

“Nah, I’ll just text her,” he said, pulling out his phone. “She takes a lot of walk-ins anyway, but she _always_ makes time for family and friends.” Then, glancing up from his screen, he grimaced. “Fair warning, though, my family is… really rowdy? Like. Don’t get me wrong, I _love_ them. It’s a really big family, and really close. And they all live in the same neighbourhood and the salon is kind of like… a central place they hang out a lot. So you might meet more than just my mom. And they’re loud and enthusiastic and _total_ busybodies…”

Anna was beaming, both hands on her face. “They sound _great!_ ” she cried. “Oh, I can’t wait!”

He laughed sheepishly and returned his attention to his phone. His mom always responded quickly. “She can see you tomorrow if you want,” he offered. “Around noon?”

“Awesome!” The way she was grinning at him, it was suddenly as if nothing was wrong at all. He was surprised by how much he liked seeing her that way. “That would be fantastic, I can’t wait!”

“She’s excited too,” he laughed, glancing down as he received another text – and another, and another. “It’s been a long time since I introduced her to a friend…”

“Really? Well then, I’m honoured,” Anna giggled. “I always wanted a big family. Tell me all about them!”

Kristoff sipped his second beer and smiled a bit. “They’re… I mean, they’re overwhelming, but they’re great.” He looked down at the table, almost embarrassed by how happy he found himself to talk about them. “I’m adopted – they took me in when I was just a little kid. My mom, Bulda, has the biggest heart. It’s a _really_ big family, like I told you – I have, like, dozens of aunts and uncles, and what seems like hundreds of cousins – but there’s just _so_ much love. I like having my own place, and a little distance – it’s healthy, I think. But it’s always really good to go home.”

For a while they just talked about family. Anna had grown up with just her parents and her sister, the rest of their family living far away and visiting only once in a rare while. Kristoff had had the opposite experience after Bulda took him in – always surrounded by family, always mired in each other’s business, always birthdays and weddings and family traditions. At some point he got up to grab them a third round of drinks, since neither of them seemed to want the conversation to end.

“That sounds amazing,” Anna said, after Kristoff told a story about a year in his teens when there had been fourteen separate births in the family. “I can’t imagine ever wanting to leave. Don’t you get lonely when you’re away from them?”

“Nah,” he answered, waving his hand. “I’ve got Sven!”

“Sven?”

“My dog!” he told her. “He’s my best friend! We’re together pretty much all of the time, except when I’m working. Or here.”

“ _Ohmygod_ ,” she said excitedly, suddenly sitting bolt upright. “You have a dog? I want to meet him!”

Kristoff blinked and looked down at his bottle, finding it empty. So was her glass. “…You wanna? I only live a few blocks away.”

“ _Yes_ ,” she responded immediately. “I – can you drive, though?”

He shook his head. “I walked over tonight anyway, ‘s fine.”

A couple minutes later, they were on their feet, Kristoff waving to Olaf as they left. The bartender knew well enough by now to put the drinks on Kristoff’s tab.

The evening air was pleasantly cool on their alcohol-flushed cheeks, and Anna skipped along the sidewalk, apparently having forgotten her worries for the night. Kristoff smiled to himself as he watched her bounce. Then he frowned again. She had been so stressed only an hour or so ago – and now she seemed nearly carefree. The only way he could sort that out was that it didn’t actually take much more than a friendly shoulder and a bit of distraction to help her calm down – but in that case, why did it have to be him? It seemed like she carried all of her concerns around by herself until she ran into him at the bar. Wasn’t there anyone else to help take the load off her mind? What about her damn _fiancé?_

The walk back to Kristoff’s place – one side of a small duplex in an older neighbourhood – was brief, and they were both in a good mood as he laughingly fumbled his key into the lock. He didn’t even have to call for Sven – the moment the door was open, Kristoff was knocked to the ground by nearly three hundred pounds of joyful St. Bernard. Anna squawked in surprise, but began to smile when she saw Kristoff laughing as the dog slavered all over his face.

“Sven! Sven!” Kristoff tried to admonish. “C’mon, buddy, we have a guest!”

The dog paused and glanced up at Anna, suddenly registering her presence – and then he was leaping up towards her, as well, sniffing her hands and trying to reach to lick her face. If she hadn’t been bracing herself against the railing on the front deck, he almost certainly would have knocked her over, as well. Kristoff scrambled to his feet to grab the dog’s collar and pull him back slightly. “Be nice!”

“Nooo, I _love_ him,” Anna said, leaning in so her face was reachable. Sven licked her cheek cheerfully, his tail wagging hard, and she laughed as she wiped off the slobber. “Oh, what a good boy! Look at you! Have you been cooped up inside all day long?”

“Actually, he has, poor guy,” Kristoff admitted, ruffling the dog’s head. “Normally I would’ve taken him for a walk by now.”

“Let’s take him right now!” Anna suggested, eyes lighting up. “C’mon, it’s such a nice night!”

Kristoff watched her for a second, taken off-guard by the raw joy emanating off of her. She was drunk, he registered, but hell – so was he. Not wasted; he had a feeling he could take a lot more alcohol than she could. But drunk enough to like the idea of a midnight walk with his beloved dog and a too-charming new friend.

“Yeah. We could do that,” he finally agreed, grinning back at her. “Hang on one sec.” Leaving the door open behind him, he slipped inside and rummaged around in the front hall, emerging a moment later with his hands full. “Here. It’s getting cooler.” He handed her a hoodie he’d had hanging up by the door, shrugging on a denim jacket for himself and donning the knitted toque he wore habitually whenever the temperature dropped. She pulled the blue sweatshirt over her arms, and it was massive on her, but it was cute. Kristoff clipped a leash to Sven’s collar and pulled the door shut, locking it once again. “Let’s go!”

“Do you guys have a usual route?” Anna asked as they started down the sidewalk once again, Sven trotting happily ahead of them.

“Not really,” Kristoff admitted with a shrug. “Sven needs as much exercise as he can get, so we like to go out in the evenings and just wander around for as long as we feel like that day. I know basically every street and corner within a mile or two of my place, by now.”

“That’s a lot of walking. I guess it explains this,” she added, tapping his broad shoulder. Then she frowned. “Or not. Uh. I’m drunk.”

He laughed, clapping a hand over his mouth to hide the embarrassing snicker that almost escaped him at this level of inebriation. “Nah, I think it’s just the work I do. It’s pretty physical. Also good genes, maybe? I dunno, I’m adopted.”

She giggled in return, not bothering to hide how goofy it was, and he couldn’t help smiling even harder. “Hell, you could blame _anything_ on your genes. No one would ever be able to argue. I love it.”

They took turns picking directions each time they reached an intersection, since Anna seemed up to walking for as long as Kristoff and Sven felt like. She chose right, then Kristoff decided to go straight, and Sven led them left around the next corner. Usually Kristoff paid enough attention to start working his way back in the general direction of home at some point, but they were having too much fun to bother. Anna had zipped his hoodie up to her chin and snuggled happily into it, excitedly taking in parts of the city she’d never seen. He enjoyed watching her, especially as they strolled through a park she’d had no clue even existed. It seemed that aside from her apartment, work, and a handful of favourite date spots she’d frequented with Hans, she didn’t actually know the city very well at all.

Neither of them knew how long exactly they’d been walking when Kristoff glanced around, fully taking in his surroundings for the first time in a while. “Huh,” he commented. “We’re practically uptown. I didn’t even realise we’d been walking this long.”

“Wait, we are?” Anna asked, looking around. “I actually have no _idea_ where we are.”

“Yeah,” he answered, pointing to the intersection up ahead. “If we took a right up here, it’d be about two blocks to Lakeside.”

She slowed, her smile vanishing, and Kristoff paused. “We’re… we’re pretty close to the North Mountain, aren’t we,” she said.

“Yeah,” he answered, shoulders dropping. “Yeah, it’s not far.”

She stopped, chewing her lip, and he turned and watched her in concern. Caught when his leash went taut, Sven turned around as well, looking up curiously at his owner. “Could we… walk by? If you don’t mind? I just want to look.”

Kristoff hesitated. He was almost sober by now, and had a feeling Anna would be soon as well. He didn’t know if that would make things better or worse. Adjusting his hat, he asked, “Are you sure that’s a good idea? I– I mean, I’m not doubting you. I’ll go if you want to. I’d just hate to see things get worse. We’ve… y’know, we’ve been having a good night.”

“Well, it… it probably won’t make anything _better_ ,” Anna confessed, looking at the ground. “But I feel like I need to.”

He let out a tiny sigh under his breath, then nodded and stepped closer to her again. “Then yeah. We can walk by.”

At that she looked up again, smiling sheepishly. “Thanks,” she whispered. He nodded and tipped his head towards the intersection, and she fell back into step next to him.

The three-and-a-half block walk to the North Mountain was quiet and sombre, in stark contrast to the levity that had dominated the last couple hours. Even Sven seemed to understand that the mood had shifted, and instead of trotting out ahead of them with his leash pulled almost tight, he walked at Kristoff’s heel, looking up at his suddenly-introspective companions in concern. At one point, while they waited for the light to change at a corner, he rounded Kristoff’s legs to nose his way into the hoodie sleeve hanging down well past Anna’s wrist, licking her hand fondly. She laughed slightly and gave the dog a sad smile and a rub on the head. “Thanks, buddy.”

Their pace slowed even further as they made their way up Lakeside and the condo building came into view. At first Kristoff politely ignored Anna’s sniffles, because he had a feeling she was trying to hide them, but a few doors before the condo he had to pull in front of her and stop, his hands on her arms. “Hey. Hey, it’s all right.”

“I’m sorry,” she managed, wiping hurriedly at her eyes with one sleeve of the oversized hoodie. “I just– this is all so much. I just wish she would _talk_ to me.”

“I know,” he answered, and he wished he knew how to make this easier for her. He’d been trying hard to give Elsa the benefit of the doubt, because Anna adored her and he knew this all had to be more complicated than it looked, but it was hard not to be frustrated at this point. “I know. I’m sorry, Anna. You deserve better than this.”

She took a few deep breaths, trying hard to steady her voice. “I just feel like, if I could just _talk_ to her, we could sort all this out,” she said. “There’s obviously more going on with her than I realised, and yeah I guess I could’ve been more observant, but she also never _talks_ to me. Maybe we could have avoided this if she’d just _talk_ to me, damnit!”

“Anna. Breathe for a second.” He squeezed her arms gently, trying to keep her grounded. “Listen, should we turn around, or something? This only seems to be upsetting you more.”

“No.” With one more deep breath, she set her shoulders. “No, I want to go. We’re so close.”

“Okay.” He loosened his hold, and after a second, let her go entirely. He wasn’t convinced this was the healthiest approach for her _or_ her sister, but who was he to insert himself into this? The best he could do was be supportive.

They walked the last few hundred feet and, finally, came to a stop out front of the North Mountain. Anna stared up at the building, clearly lost in thought, and Kristoff watched her carefully. He had no idea what she was thinking, or whether she might try to do something, but keeping an eye on her seemed like the thing to do.

She took him by surprise when she pulled out her phone. He swallowed the instinct to stop her, watching as she dialed her sister and held the phone up to her ear, staring up at the windows that overlooked the street.

And then she blinked, startled.

“E-Elsa,” she stammered, and Kristoff raised his eyebrows. Had she actually _answered?_

“I’m– I’m outside. I was out for a walk and I ended up in the neighbourhood by accident, and I just… I just want to _talk_ to you.” She turned away from him slightly, but not enough that he couldn’t still hear her. “You mean it? I– yeah, I can be right up. Y-yeah. Yeah, I promise. Which… wow, really?” She wiped her cheek again. “Well, okay. Thank you. Yeah. Just a minute.”

Hanging up and sliding the phone back into the pocket of her jeans, she looked up at Kristoff with shining eyes. “She said I can come up and talk to her,” she told him, almost disbelievingly.

“Oh.” He was genuinely surprised. “Oh. That’s– that’s good. I’m glad.”

“Wait,” she said immediately, seeing the way he pulled back slightly. “Don’t go. I– um, I don’t want to go up there all by myself.” The last part came out quietly, her gaze suddenly directed at the sidewalk.

“Oh. Okay.” He was surprised yet again. “Uh, yeah. No problem.”

Her smile now was earnest and sweet, rather than sad. “Thanks.”

With a swell of confidence, Anna informed the doorman that they were there to visit her sister, Elsa Agdarsen, up in the penthouse. He nodded and allowed them in, eyeing Sven carefully but saying nothing – it was, technically, a pet-friendly building, even when the pet was roughly the size of a bear.

“The penthouse?” Kristoff asked softly as they headed for the elevator.

“Apparently it was the only suite available,” Anna muttered back, shrugging one shoulder. “And I mean… Mom and Dad left us a lot. We’re not _hurting_ for the money.”

“Sheesh.” The elevator door dinged shut, and up they went to the top. Kristoff felt very out of place, which seemed odd, since he’d been here half a dozen times before – but that was always for work. He didn’t belong here when he wasn’t on the clock. He was grateful no one joined them on the elevator or passed them in the hallways – though it _was_ getting pretty late, he supposed.

At her sister’s door, Anna hesitated before knocking, then glanced up at him. “Is something wrong?” he asked.

“Not really,” she said, chewing her lip. “It’s just… damnit. I know I asked you to come with me, and I _want_ you with me because you make me feel a lot calmer, but um, I’m not sure if introducing Elsa to a stranger is the best start to this conversation.”

“Right,” he agreed, nodding once. “You have a point.” Frankly he hadn’t had a clue what he was going to do in there, so it was almost a relief – though he also found himself suddenly worried about letting her go inside alone.

“I’m sorry,” Anna told him, eyebrows furrowed. “Do you mind waiting out here? Just like… for a few minutes?”

“It’s fine,” he assured her, leaning back against the wall. “It’s– yeah. It’s fine. I’ll be right here.”

“Thank you. Sorry. Thank you,” she said, and then she knocked on the door. “Elsa…?” After a second, she let herself in.

Kristoff folded his arms and settled his weight back against the wall, directing Sven to sit next to him with a small gesture of his head. Sven was not, in many ways, the brightest dog, but he was well-trained and typically quite responsive to his owner’s subtle instructions. Kristoff leaned his blond head back on the wallpaper and sighed, closing his eyes and trying not to worry about Anna.

Why was he here? Not that he minded doing this for her – as much as his people skills were less than pristine, he did _like_ her, and she seemed to like him, too. He didn’t mind being her friend or helping her out. But why was _he_ here, and not her mythical fiancé? In fact, as the catalyst for this whole disaster, didn’t Hans sort of have a _responsibility_ to help Anna smooth things over with her sister? He didn’t seem to be involved whatsoever, and Kristoff didn’t much like it. Again, he was trying hard not to judge someone he’d never met – someone Anna clearly loved, though he was beginning to suspect that Anna loved somewhat indiscriminately – but it was tough. From Kristoff’s limited perspective, Hans wasn’t in any of the places or doing any of the jobs he ought to be, as Anna’s fiancé.

He wondered if he was in any position to _tell_ her that.

He could hear Anna’s voice, faintly, and Elsa’s, if he listened for it. He tried not to. This was an important, intimate conversation they were having – he didn’t want to intrude on that. That didn’t stop his shoulders from stiffening slightly when he heard Anna’s voice raise a little, her tone pleading.

Exercising all the self-control he could muster, Kristoff did a remarkably good job of not eavesdropping on the discussion taking place on the other side of the door – until he heard Anna yelp loudly, accompanied by a thud and a dull crash. At that point his discipline flew out the window, and he was charging into the condo before he even knew it. “Anna!” he cried in alarm. She was pushing herself into a seated position from the floor, her legs still caught up on the coffee table she had apparently fallen backward into and over. The table itself was on its side now, a handful of magazines and knickknacks scattered on the floor.

“I-I’m okay,” she told him quickly as he landed on his knees next to her, Sven close behind him. Anna rubbed her head as she disentangled her legs from the table. “I’m just– I’m just still dizzy from all the cider, and I was upset, and I tripped–”

“Who the hell is this?” For the first time, Kristoff looked up and registered Elsa. She was drawing back towards the far wall, clearly alarmed by the presence of a stranger in her living room.

“This is– this is my friend Kristoff,” Anna said, levering herself against his arms where they hovered nervously around her. Getting to her feet, she explained, “He’s… he helped me figure out where you were. And he’s been doing a lot to help me out since you took off.” He stood up close behind her, feeling a strange mix of protective and lost. He didn’t know what to do in this situation.

“Look, Anna, I really think it’s best if you just… if you just _go._ ” Elsa crossed her arms, pulling a cardigan close around her shoulders. “I don’t know how things are going to be for the next while, but I know I need time to myself to think. I can’t– I can’t deal with all of this right now.”

“Elsa, _please_ ,” Anna begged. “Let me help you. I just want to make things better.”

“I don’t think you _can_ just ‘ _make things better_ ,’” Elsa told her sadly. “I just… I just really need some space, Anna. Please.”

Anna’s expression as she retreated back into her borrowed hoodie broke Kristoff’s heart. “Anna, come on,” he said quietly, finally settling his arms around her shoulders. “Let’s go.” She didn’t resist as he turned her around and led her out of the condo.

She was silent on the elevator and all the way out the door. Then, as they returned to the sidewalk, her shoulders began to shake. All it took was the concerned shift of Kristoff’s hand on her shoulder, and she turned around and collapsed into him, pressing her face into his t-shirt.

“Hey… hey,” he said quietly, wrapping his arms around her properly. He wasn’t great at comfort, it crossed his mind suddenly. “You’re gonna be okay. Everything is gonna be okay.” Still feeling lost, he rested his chin on top of her head and pulled her in close, one hand rubbing circles into her back. For a minute or two she just cried, his shirt growing damp between her cheeks and his chest. He couldn’t quite bring himself to care.

She tried to smile when she finally pulled back, her eyes red. “I guess you’re sober now, huh?” she asked softly.

“Yeah,” he admitted, nodding. “Have been for a while now.”

“Me too, probably. That fall over the table knocked the last of it out of me, I think.” She wiped one sleeve across her eyes. “Thanks for looking after me. Sorry I’m an idiot.”

Kristoff shook his head. “It’s been a hell of a night,” he observed, his own smile a little ironic.

She laughed briefly. “Yeah.” Running a hand back through her hair, she sighed heavily. “God. Now I’m just exhausted.”

“Mhm. Three ciders, almost two hours of walking, and the world’s wildest emotional roller coaster would do that.” He shifted his hands to her shoulders so he could lean back and look at her a little better. “Maybe we should call you a cab.”

She rubbed her face. “Yeah, maybe. You wanna split the fare?”

“Nah.” He raised the hand holding Sven’s leash. “Most drivers aren’t super keen on megamutts like this guy. We’ll make our own way home.”

“Are you sure? It took us ages to get up here,” she said, looking worried.

“Yeah, but we were wandering. Taking our time, and an indirect route. Sven and I can make it back in like, three quarters of an hour.” He saw her concern. “Promise. We’ll be fine. It’s actually not a very big city.”

“Well, okay,” Anna said slowly. “Um, do you have the number for the cab company?”

Once they had called her a car, they sat themselves down on the curb to wait. It wouldn’t be long. She leaned against his arm, melting into him a little, and he let her. “You wanna postpone tomorrow?” he asked after a quiet minute or two. “My mom wouldn’t mind. Tonight’s been rough, and it’s late. You need to get some rest.”

“No, I still wanna go,” she told him. “It still sounds nice. And it would be good to just feel… normal, for an hour or two.”

“Okay,” he said. “In that case, you want me to come pick you up and take you down? The salon can be a little tricky to find if you don’t know the area.”

“That would be great,” she said, nodding without taking her head off his shoulder.

Kristoff glanced up at the sound of a car on its way down the street. “I think your ride is here.”

-

The next morning, when Kristoff pulled up outside of Anna’s apartment building on his motorcycle with Sven in his custom doggy sidecar, she began to giggle. And she didn’t stop until they arrived at their destination.

“Okay,” Kristoff had to say, pulling his helmet off and peering at her. He was a little amused, but also a little incensed. “What _exactly_ is so funny?”

“ _That_ ,” she answered, snickering as she took one hand off the massive travel mug she was clutching to point at Sven’s sidecar.

“Come on,” he said, frowning. “I don’t have a car. But sometimes I have to take my dog places. I fail to see what’s _so_ hilarious about that.”

“It’s the sidecar,” she explained through a shit-eating grin. “The special puppy-dog sidecar is the hilarious part.”

Kristoff wrinkled his nose at her for a moment before turning to help Sven out of the sidecar in question. When he turned back and placed the dog on the sidewalk, Anna’s eyebrows were high under her bangs. “You can _lift_ all that?”

“What, Sven?” he asked, surprised. “Yeah? I mean, when he cooperates. Which he doesn’t always.”

“Damn. Guess those arms aren’t just for show.” She took a long sip of her coffee, which Kristoff was certain was the only thing keeping her conscious. By her own admission when he’d picked her up, she was both exhausted and still hungover.

“No,” he laughed. “Come on. It’s just up the block.” With a loose hold on Sven’s municipally-mandated leash, he led the way to his mother’s salon. _Living Rock Hairstyling_ , read the hand-painted sign out front, and Kristoff held the door open for Anna to go first. She smiled at the sight of a sweet little water fountain just inside the door, water burbling pleasantly over a haphazard pile of mossy stones and small plants.

“Ma!” Kristoff called into the apparently-empty salon, reaching up to run his hands through a few sets of wind chimes hanging overhead. “Where is everybody?”

“Kristoff!” cried a voice from around a corner at the back. “Just a minute, sweetie! – _Guys, Kristoff is home!_ ”

“Brace yourself,” Kristoff muttered to Anna. She barely had time to react before she heard the sound of feet pounding down an unseen set of stairs, and suddenly five kids of varying ages came barrelling around the back corner and into the salon’s front room. Cheering loudly, they hurled themselves at Kristoff with absolute faith, and he managed to catch each of them and lower them back to the floor in time to catch the next. “Whoa, whoa!” he laughed, kneeling gladly to acccept their eager hugs. “Guys, hey, calm down! One at a time! Where’s my mother, huh?”

“She and Soren are in the back room,” one of the kids supplied. “They’re washing another client’s hair. They’ll be out in a sec.”

“I’m right here, kiddo!” a woman’s voice chipped in, and Kristoff saw his mother emerge, drying her hands on a small towel. She was a short, hefty woman, with a light brown complexion under her ruddy cheeks and an enormous smile. She and Kristoff shared a warm hug before she turned to face Anna. “And this is your friend?” she asked, grinning too widely.

Kristoff rolled his eyes as the kids and Sven retreated into an empty corner to play. “Yes, mom. This is my _friend,_ Anna. Anna, this is my mom, Bulda.”

“It’s so wonderful to meet you!” Anna greeted cheerfully, taking Bulda’s powerful handshake and subsequent hug in stride.

“What can I do for you today, hon?” Bulda asked.

Anna held out a strand of her hair like she’d done for Kristoff the night before. “The main thing is I’d love to cover up these white hairs somehow,” she admitted. “But honestly, a general cleanup is probably in order as well. I’ll keep the length, but you know – take care of the split ends, even everything out, all that stuff.”

“I’ve got you covered, sweetie,” Bulda told her. “Come on back and we’ll give you a wash first.”

Seeing that Sven was happy playing with his young cousins, Kristoff tucked his hands in his pockets and followed Anna and his mother into the back room, where the sinks were. His Uncle Soren was just rinsing the shampoo out of the other customer’s bright red hair, and as the young man in the chair raised his head, Kristoff wondered if it might be…

“Olaf?” he asked in surprise.

“Oh my gosh, hey!” the bartender greeted, beaming. “What a coincidence, running into you here! You getting your hair cut today too?”

“No, uh…” Kristoff blinked, shaking his head. “This is my mom’s salon. I brought Anna in to see her.”

“Hi Olaf!” Anna said, waving quickly before Bulda leaned her back into the sink.

“No way!” Olaf said. “That’s so cool! I’ve been getting my hair done here for years! I would never have guessed you and Bulda were related!”

Soren grinned. “That’s because Kristoff is adopted,” he laughed. “We raised this kid by committee.”

“They kind of take that ‘it takes a village’ saying literally in this family,” Kristoff laughed. He could see that Soren was waiting to take Olaf out to the other room, so he waved. “Uh, nice to see you.”

“Yeah, you too!” Olaf answered.

As the two of them left, Kristoff parked himself in the now-vacant chair and turned to watch as his mother washed Anna’s hair. “So you two met in a bar?” Bulda was asking.

“Yeah, the Frosty Crocus,” Anna answered, eyes closed against the water. “The guy Kristoff was just talking to there, actually, he’s our favourite bartender.”

“I dunno about favourite,” Kristoff chipped in. “It’s more that he’s just _always there_.”

Anna waved a hand dismissively in his direction. “Anyway, yeah, he’s been a lovely friend. I’ve been going through a rough time lately, and he’s been really supportive. It’s good to have a shoulder to lean on.”

“If anyone’s got shoulders for bearing a little extra weight, it’s our boy Kristoff,” Bulda laughed. “It’s _so_ good to see him making friends – and such lovely ones, too! You know, honey, he’s always been kind of a loner when he’s away from home. Makes a mother worry.”

“Ma!” Kristoff accused, but he was being pointedly ignored.

“Oh, I don’t think you really have anything to worry about,” Anna assured her. “I mean, I guess he’s a little gruff at first, but you know, he’s taken really good care of me lately, when I’ve needed it. It’s obvious you raised him well.”

Bulda’s many necklaces jangled as she leaned in to scrub Anna’s scalp. “Well, we do our best! We’re big on love in this family. It’s our guiding light, you might say. I think we managed to teach him that, too.”

Kristoff propped his elbow on the arm of the chair and leaned his head on his hand, rolling his eyes again. It was apparent that this conversation was going to happen whether he was there or not, but he wasn’t going to be granted any input of his own. Eyes wandering, he watched his mother’s fingers running through Anna’s long copper hair, working out the knots with a froth of conditioner. It was oddly hypnotic.

“You know, I grew up with just my parents and my sister, and we lost our parents a few years ago. It’s just been the two of us for a while. I always wanted a big family! Kristoff was telling me stories about you all last night, and it just sounds _wonderful_.”

“We have fun!” Bulda agreed with a laugh. “I hope he didn’t tell you anything embarrassing. Although, if he did, I could always return fire, and that _would_ be awfully entertaining.”

“Hey!” Kristoff squawked, unable to help himself. “Ma, _please!_ ”

Bulda and Anna shared a giggle. “No, no, he was nothing but flattering,” Anna answered. “Much as I hate to miss out on embarrassing Kristoff stories.”

“Maybe next time,” Bulda said with another grin.

When the three of them emerged into the main room of the salon, Soren was just finishing blow-drying and brushing out Olaf’s thick curls at a mirror on the left wall. Bulda parked Anna on the opposite wall, and before Kristoff could sit down as well, she glanced over and said, “Poke your head upstairs and see if Grandpabbie’s awake.” He nodded.

As he walked towards the back of the salon once again, he could hear his mother explaining to Anna – there was an apartment upstairs, where she lived with her husband Cliff and her father. The business and building being owned wholly by Bulda, it had become one of the main gathering places for the family, hence the collection of cousins currently hanging around while their own parents were at work or running errands. Kristoff pushed through the door in the corner of the back room and ascended a couple of steps. “Grandpabbie?” he called. “You up?”

“Kristoff?” came the gruff, sleep-thick voice of his grandfather. “That you, boy?”

“Yeah, dropped in for a visit. Mom asked me to check if you were awake.”

There was a grunt, which he knew was only the first of many noises in the long getting-up process after one of his arthritic grandfather’s naps. “Tell her I’ll be down in a few minutes,” he called back.

“You got it.” When Kristoff got back to front room of the salon, his mother had partially dried Anna’s hair and was brushing it out smooth. She’d clearly already worked some of her conversational magic, as well, because Anna was telling her all about the stress of the last few weeks, beginning with her engagement to Hans and moving forward from there in her usual rambling fashion. Kristoff smiled slightly, amused, and sat down in one of the empty salon chairs. Sometime in the middle of Anna’s story, Grandpabbie joined the crowd, taking up residence in an armchair that sat in a nearby corner just for him. She paused for a moment so that introductions could be made, and then she rolled straight back into narrating her hunt for Elsa.

As Anna vented her story, Kristoff only half-listened, already privy to more or less every detail. Leaning on his hand again, he watched his mother trimming and brushing Anna’s hair. It was funny how different she looked with it down – it had been held back in braids every time he’d seen her so far. He’d known what a nice colour it was, and how shiny, but hanging damp around her face it really struck him how pretty it looked. And, of course, the rhythmic motions of Bulda’s comb were as hypnotic as her conditioner-coated hands had been a few minutes earlier.

Like any good hairdresser, Bulda was sympathetic and kind and generally a great listener. She nodded and reacted as Anna talked, and when Anna had finally finished summarising the previous night and its challenges – downplaying how emotional it had really been, though Bulda seemed to understand – she pursed her lips thoughtfully. “You know, hon,” she said slowly, “that is _so_ much more than you should have to take on by yourself.”

“I know!” Anna said, spreading her hands. “But I don’t know what else to do! I mean, like I told you, Kristoff has been really supportive, but there’s only so much he can do.”

“But sweetie, what about Hans?” Bulda asked. Kristoff stiffened slightly in his chair, uncertain how this would go. He’d been too cautious to bring it up yet, but his mother had no such compunctions – he should have seen this coming, quite frankly. “I know you said he’s helping out with work a lot, but he should be supporting you _emotionally_ , too. That’s what a partner does! If he can’t be here for you _now_ , during such a difficult time – and when he’s equally responsible as you for the rift between you and your sister – who’s to say he’ll be there for you when you’re married?”

Anna hesitated. “I don’t think he means anything by it,” she answered. “I mean, I think he’s helping me in the way he knows how. He doesn’t know my sister very well, so it’s a lot easier for him to look after the business than help me with her.”

“Sweetie,” Bulda said, raising her eyebrows. “If he doesn’t know your sister very well, and she’s got reservations about you marrying him, I feel like some emphasis should be put on the two of them getting to know each other a _lot_ better. That should be right at the top of your to-do list right now.” Kristoff was still nervous, but he was grateful to his mother for bringing up all the same concerns that had been plaguing him. He did think Anna needed to hear this – he just wasn’t sure if he was the right person to say it. His mother coming to the same conclusions that he had gave him considerably more confidence in his judgment.

Olaf and Soren had made no secret that they were listening in on the conversation, both chipping in with their sympathies a few different times. “She’s right, Anna,” Olaf piped now. “I mean, I know you adore Hans. And he sounds great! But you should probably get all of this in the clear as soon as you can.”

“Exactly,” Bulda agreed with a nod. “The longer it simmers this way, the more likely someone is to start feeling resentful. Communication is key.”

“So I’ve heard,” Anna admitted in a low voice. “Guess I just don’t have many examples to go off of.”

Grandpabbie leaned forward in his chair, hands atop his cane. “You know, my dear, I used to get asked all the time how our family was so happy,” he said. “That’s a lot of people to all be getting along and loving each other. Kristoff has over a dozen aunts and uncles, and many more cousins than that – and we have further extended family, as well. We all live in the same neighbourhood, spend all of our time together. And yet, there are so few divorces in our family. So few fights. We don’t really get tired of each other. And it’s because we communicate well.”

“He’s right,” Bulda said. “Even Kristoff, who’s much shyer than the rest of us by nature. Never quite learned the bold streak that runs in the family.” She smiled gently. “But he can still talk about things when it’s important.”

“I guess you’re probably right,” Anna agreed, blowing a few loose snips of hair off her nose. “I’m just… I don’t know, afraid of upsetting him, I guess. We’ve always gotten along so well and been on the same page about everything. I’d hate to start some kind of conflict now, when there’s already so much else going on.”

“Oh, hon,” Bulda said, pausing in her work to lean on Anna’s shoulders and give her a gentle smile in the mirror. “Anyone who loves you would far rather you be honest with them about what’s worrying you, than later learn you’ve been suffering in silence for their sake. Love is about sharing everything, good and bad. It’s about solving problems together. It’s about… agreeing that you’re a team, and that you’re gonna stay a team through thick and thin, and still be a team when you come out the other side. Don’t think of this as you versus Hans – think of it as you and Hans _together_ , versus the problems you’re facing.”

Anna smiled at that, glancing down at her lap. “Well, when you put it like that,” she admitted. “It does seem a lot more approachable.” She looked up again and caught Kristoff watching her in the mirror. Quickly he put on an encouraging smile, and she smiled back.

“I gotta be honest,” he told her. “I’m glad my mom brought that up, because I’d been kinda wondering about all of that myself, but I wasn’t sure if I was the right person to tell you. Obviously I don’t know Hans, so I didn’t wanna… step on your toes, I guess.”

She laughed lightly. “Well, if your judgment is always as keen as your mother’s, I’ll just go ahead and give you standing permission to be candid with me,” she told him. “I know I can be… bullheaded sometimes. But I appreciate when people have the patience to talk some sense into me.”

Bulda grinned. “Well, you can always count on the Livingstons for that, if nothing else.” Tossing a wink in her son’s direction, she added, “And their Bjorgman, of course.”

Anna’s story and subsequent advice session having apparently come to a close, Olaf took over salon conversation for a while, chattering aimlessly with Soren about the unseasonably mild summer weather they were having lately. It suited Olaf just fine, it seemed, since he was often inclined to get sweaty and sick when he overheated. It was part of why he kept regular hair appointments in the summer months, he explained – his hair was awfully thick, and he preferred to keep it well-trimmed to avoid getting too sweaty underneath. Despite the relative inanity of the discussion, Soren maintained the polite and engaged attitude of a well-practiced hairdresser.

While Olaf rattled on, Bulda got working on Anna’s dye job. With Kristoff’s help to reach some things out of a high cupboard in the back room, she mixed up a red dye that she said ought to match Anna’s natural colour pretty closely and brushed it into the white spots, which seemed to be mostly concentrated around the area of Anna’s right temple.

“Honey, if these are just from the last few weeks, your hair must grow like a _weed_ ,” she commented at one point.

“Mm, it kinda does,” Anna admitted. “Like, I think I might have had one or two before, if I’m being honest, but these are mostly pretty recent. My hair does grow really fast. I have to trim my bangs every five or six days to keep them out of my eyes.”

Olaf had finally left by the time Bulda gave Anna’s hair a second wash to clean out the excess dye. Kristoff’s cousins had long ago taken Sven upstairs with them to watch TV in Bulda’s living room, and Grandpabbie was dozing off in his armchair in the corner. Anna inspected her hair in the mirror after Bulda finished drying it.

“Bulda, it looks _amazing_ ,” she said delightedly. “I can’t even tell where the white hairs _were_. And the cut feels great – it’s been too long since I got my hair cleaned up properly. Thank you so much!”

“I’m so glad you came, honey!” Bulda responded. “It’s been lovely getting to know you. I hope I’ll see you again?”

“Definitely,” Anna promised, turning her smile on the stylist. “What do I owe you?”

“On the house, as long as you promise you’ll be back,” Bulda told her with a wave of her hand.

“Oh, no, I can’t accept that!”

“Anna, don’t,” Kristoff laughed from the other chair. “Ma doesn’t take no for an answer. You’re better off to let it go. If you really want, I’ll slip a twenty into her purse sometime when she’s not looking.”

“No! I won’t take that from you, either,” she said, turning and pointing at him, brows furrowed. “Don’t think I’ve been missing how many of my drinks end up on your tab. Plus that scratch on the side of your motorcycle this morning was _totally_ my fault. I owe you so much money already!”

“I’ll tell you a secret,” Soren offered, pausing in the process of sweeping up around Anna’s chair. “Buy the man a hearty lunch and all debts will be forgiven. Really. You could _wreck_ that bike and he’d forget all about it as soon as he had a good sandwich and a bowl of soup in front of him.”

“Okay, I’m not quite _that_ easy,” Kristoff laughed.

Anna put a hand on her stomach. “Actually, though, speaking of lunch, I’m _starving_. Is there anywhere good to eat around here?”

“Yeah, definitely,” Kristoff answered, getting to his feet to join her. He glanced at his mother. “Cool if I leave Sven with you guys until we’re ready to head out?”

“Of course, love,” she answered. “Take her by Rockwell’s after you eat! And maybe bring something back for your loving mother?”

“’Course, Ma,” he laughed, leaning down to kiss her cheek. Then he waved for Anna to follow him out of the salon.

“Okay,” Anna said the moment they were out the front door. Her smile as she followed him down the sidewalk was enormous. “You and your mom? _Adorable_.”

“Aw, come off it,” he muttered, grinning sheepishly and glancing away with a wave that turned into a self-conscious rub on the back of his neck. “Any half-decent guy is good to his mom. Y’know, isn’t Hans like that, or anything?”

“Actually, I haven’t met his family at all,” she admitted slowly. “I know a little about them. He’s got twelve older brothers, if you can believe it, and they’re all in the family business. I’ve seen their pictures on the company website.”

Kristoff’s smile faded and he gave her a careful sideways glance, his hand still on his neck but his arm going slack. “You’re… serious?” he asked uncertainly, finally dropping his hand and looking at her properly. He didn’t want to go pointing out more problems when they’d just gotten _out_ of the difficult conversation about her relationship, but… “You’ve never met your fiancé’s enormous family even though they’re local and everything? You… you had to go _online_ to find pictures of them?”

She wasn’t meeting his eye. “I think most of them kinda put business ahead of leisure, like, a lot. Plus Hans isn’t really close with any of them, I don’t think. Definitely not his brothers, anyway, and I think his dad is too busy to spend much time with him.”

“Anna, _honestly_ ,” he said, not even sure where to start.

“Yeah, I know,” she sighed. “I realised it as soon as I said it out loud. It sounds… ridiculous.” Finally she looked up again, mouth twisted to one side. “Obviously Hans and I need to talk about some things. I guess this just goes on the list, huh?”

“Listen, I’ve been trying really hard to give this guy the benefit of the doubt, because I’ve never even _seen_ him,” he told her. “But you make it hard, kid.” He stopped and pushed open a door, waving for her to go ahead.

“I appreciate the effort,” she said with a small laugh, a little awkward. Kristoff swallowed, hating the weirdness the conversation left hanging over their heads, and then looked up and cleared his throat.

“So, uh, neighbourhood deli. Best bread and cold cuts in the damn city,” he said, gesturing broadly into the room. She turned and looked around for a moment, breaking into another delighted smile.

“Ooh! Okay, lunch is on me,” Anna told him, going to inspect a display of specialty cheeses. “No arguments; I owe you.”

He laughed. “All right, all right. Fair enough.” With a hand on her shoulder, he steered her towards the counter. “Here, this is where the magic happens. Florian? You around?” The last part he called toward the open door behind the counter, which revealed a portion of the kitchen. He smacked the bell on the counter for good measure. A tall, thin older gentleman poked his head out after a moment, lighting up when he saw the customers waiting.

“Kristoff! So good to see you!” he greeted, wiping his hands on his apron and then coming around the counter to shake Kristoff’s hand heartily. “Who’s your lovely friend?”

“This is my friend Anna – brought her down for an appointment with mom. Thought we’d grab something to eat while we were in the neighbourhood,” Kristoff answered. “Anna, this is Florian – he’s worked here since I was a kid.”

“So nice to meet you!” Anna said cheerfully.

“Likewise, my dear!” Florian said, shaking Anna’s hand as well. He glanced back towards the kitchen and called out, “Frida! Can I get a hand, sweetheart?”

The young woman who emerged from the kitchen then was clearly Florian’s daughter – tall and narrow like he was, with the same wavy dark hair and broad smile. “Oh! Kristoff!” she said in surprise, quickly fixing her hair and brushing a bit of flour from her sleeve. “Hi!”

“Hey, Frida, good to see you,” Kristoff answered easily. “Can I get my usual, if you haven’t forgotten?”

“I could never forget your order, Kristoff,” she laughed. “Or at least, you’d have to be gone for a lot longer than you have been. Is that all for today?”

“Not unless his friend here isn’t hungry at all!” Florian said, gesturing to Anna. Frida blinked, looking at her as if noticing her for the first time. Her father laughed slightly. “Pay attention, darling!”

“Oh! I’m so sorry!” She bit her lip. “I didn’t realise you were with Kristoff!”

“Frida, this is my friend Anna,” Kristoff introduced again. “She’s decided she owes me lunch, so…”

“Yes! Of course.” Frida looked at Anna again. “I’m sorry. What can we get you?”

“No worries,” Anna said with a wave of her hand. “I’ve just got to figure out what I want first! Anyone have any recommendations…?”

“I want Florian’s roast beef for my last meal,” Kristoff joked. “And with the bread, I mean… you can’t go wrong, here. I usually just get whatever’s freshest.”

“We can really put together anything you like, my dear,” Florian told her. “Though we do have a few _excellent_ family recipes if you’re interested in a unique experience. We _just_ finished a batch of our chicken salad, which is a favourite of mine.”

“Um, and I like the parmigiana,” Frida offered.

Anna chewed her lip for a moment, thinking. “Chicken salad sounds really tempting,” she finally decided.

“You got it!” Florian agreed with a nod. He returned behind the counter to set to work on their meals, Frida ringing them up at the cash register. After Anna paid, she and Kristoff went to sit at one of the handful of tables by the window. A few minutes later, Frida arrived with their food and drinks on a tray – chicken salad, iced tea, and a dinner roll for Anna, plus a hefty roast beef sandwich, a serving of pasta salad, some cut vegetables, and a tall glass of ice water for Kristoff.

“Excellent,” Kristoff said, rubbing his hands together. “Thanks, Frida. Looks perfect.”

“Hope you enjoy it,” she answered, smiling. “And hey, don’t be a stranger, okay? It’s been a few months, we should catch up sometime.” His mouth already full of sandwich, he nodded and gave her a thumbs up.

“That girl likes you,” Anna said with a sly grin as Frida disappeared back into the kitchen. She took a bite of the bread roll, then pointed at it. “ _Holy shit,_ ” she added around her mouthful.

“Right? Anything they bake here is amazing, but fresh… godly.” Kristoff took a sip of his water. “But also… Frida? Seriously? I’ve known her since we were kids. I think you’re reading too much into things.”

Anna shook her head, laughing at him. “Nope. She was _thrilled_ to see you, to the point that she didn’t even realise I was _here_. Then she got all nervous when she saw you with a girl, but she was relieved when you called me your friend. Plus, I mean, she was just flat-out flirting with you. Shy flirting, but flirting.”

Kristoff frowned. “But you’re _engaged_ ,” he said, puzzled. It was one thing when his family started to insinuate things, because that was just how they _were_ , but with anyone else, he felt like it should somehow be obvious he and Anna weren’t together.

“How’s she gonna know that?” Anna asked with a shrug.

For the first time, Kristoff glanced down at her hands and noticed something. “You don’t have a ring!” he said in surprise. “You had one before, didn’t you?”

She shook her head. “No, we didn’t… really bother,” she said. “I dunno, it just hasn’t come up.” She stirred her fork around in her chicken salad.

Kristoff frowned, wondering if Hans had really bothered to do _anything_ in this relationship.

“Anyway. You should ask her out. She’s cute.”

 

After lunch, Kristoff led Anna around a corner to a teeny-tiny ice cream shop run by another cousin of his (“Or I think he’s my cousin. I’ve always called him my cousin? He might actually be my… second cousin. Or something.”), the Rockwell that Bulda had mentioned. Despite Anna’s protests, Rockwell gave them massive scoops on waffle cones for the same one-dollar price that he usually charged for a small cone, and Kristoff also got a third scoop in a cup to take back to his mother.

He lagged on the sidewalk as they headed back toward the salon. He knew he couldn’t be _too_ slow, because he was carrying ice cream for his mom, but he also didn’t want the pleasant afternoon to end. He glanced down at Anna, so cheerful with her chocolate cone in hand, and he couldn’t help himself from smiling. “You look nice with your hair down,” he said without thinking.

She looked up in surprise, then smiled back. “Thank you!” Running her fingers through her freshly-trimmed locks, she commented, “Sometimes I wonder if I should wear it down more often. I think some people find the braids a little… childish.”

“No, the braids are–” _adorable_. He coughed. “They’re – they suit you. You should keep them, if you like them.”

She hid her growing smile in her ice cream, and his stomach flipped a little bit in a way he didn’t care for at all. He really, really didn’t want to go down that road. Not with Anna.

After a moment, and without meeting his eye, she suddenly asked, “Would you want to come to the wedding?”

“What?” He blinked, startled. “You – really? I mean, we’ve only known each other a month.”

“I know,” she admitted. “But I feel like… I’ve really found a valuable friend in you. And if I’m honest, I really don’t _have_ many friends. So.”

“Oh.” He wasn’t sure how to answer that. “I… Yeah. I mean, that’s really kind of you to offer.”

“You could even bring Frida,” she joked, finally glancing up at him again, but it seemed just a little strained somehow. Or maybe that was just his sudden stomach ache talking.

Kristoff was grateful that suddenly they were at the front door of the salon and he didn’t have to respond directly to Anna’s matchmaking attempts. He pushed inside and put his mother’s only-slightly-melting ice cream down next to her on the small counter while she was on the phone with a client booking an appointment. She blew him a silent kiss as she jotted down some notes on a page in front of her.

“Thanks, sweetie,” Bulda said after she hung up the phone. “You guys have a nice lunch?”

“Yeah, it was good,” Kristoff agreed. “Figure we should probably head out soon though. Sven’s still upstairs with the kids?”

“Mhm.” Bulda answered, spoon in her mouth. “And make sure to say goodbye to Grandpabbie.” The old man was dozing off in his chair in the corner, hands still folded over the top of his cane.

Kristoff nodded, already headed to the back of the salon. After hollering up the stairs for Sven, he came back and nudged Grandpabbie’s shoulder gently until the man’s eyes slowly opened. “Hey, old man,” Kristoff teased. “I’m headed out.”

“Oh – oof – good to see you, boy.”

“You too.” Kristoff leaned down and gave his grandfather a one-armed hug and a kiss on the head as Sven padded out of the back room, sniffing with interest at Kristoff’s ice cream. With a roll of his eyes, Kristoff reached into his pocket and offered the dog a small treat instead.

After Kristoff and Anna said goodbye to Bulda and Soren, Kristoff promising he’d be home for dinner sometime later that week, they headed outside again and finished their ice cream on the walk back to his motorcycle. As he tossed their napkins into a nearby trash can, Anna pulled out her phone. “Mm. Hans texted me back,” she said. “I asked him if he could come over tonight, and he thinks he can make it work. So I guess we’ll be having that big conversation.”

“Right. Of course,” Kristoff answered, retrieving his helmet from inside the sidecar. He kept his thoughts about Hans ‘ _thinking’_ he could make a visit to his fiancée work to himself. “I’ll have my fingers crossed for you.”

“Thank you.” Her smile was so warm it nearly hurt him at this point, and he hated where his mind had kept going today. Giving her a quick smile back, he scooped Sven into his arms and dumped him into the sidecar, letting the dog get into a more comfortable position before strapping him safely into place.

“All right, we’re all set. I’m taking you back home, I assume?” he asked, swinging a leg over the seat.

“Yeah, I guess so!” she agreed. She laughed slightly as she mounted behind him. “If we keep doing this we’re gonna have to get me my own helmet.”

He liked the sound of that too much. He liked her arms locked around his waist too much, too. This was a dangerous place his head was in, all of a sudden.

 

When she dismounted again outside of her apartment building, he turned off the engine and pulled off his helmet. “Hey,” he said. “Good luck with everything tonight. With Hans, I mean.”

“Thank you,” Anna said, with that wonderfully warm smile again. She was always so earnest. “Your family was right, I think. Hans and I really love each other. So that means we can get through this just fine. I just have to be honest with him.”

“I’m really glad you’ve found that,” Kristoff answered, and he _was. Really._ Glancing down at the handlebars, he cleared his throat and said, “I’ll look forward to the wedding.”

She beamed, then turned towards the building with a little wave. Kristoff watched her go in; sat there and watched through the glass as she headed for the elevator and, after a couple seconds, disappeared inside. He sat there, gazing into the empty lobby, absolutely _hating_ the feeling in the pit of his stomach, until Sven whined. When Kristoff turned to glance at the dog, he was staring up at his owner with sad, pleading eyes.

“Don’t give me that look,” Kristoff admonished, pulling his helmet back on and reaching for the ignition.

-

“Hey, you haven’t seen Anna lately, have you?” Kristoff asked, leaning over the bar towards Olaf. “Maybe when I wasn’t here?”

Olaf shook his head. “No, not even once,” he admitted. “You don’t have her number or anything?”

Kristoff made a face, sitting down on one of the stools with a sigh. “No, we kept forgetting to trade.” Tapping his fingers restlessly on the bar, he said, “I probably shouldn’t be so wound up about it, I just… thought I’d have heard from her by now.”

Olaf paused and gave Kristoff a critical, narrow-eyed look, betraying a far greater perceptiveness than Kristoff would previously have credited him with. It was almost unsettling. “Are you worried about her?”

“Well, not exactly, no,” Kristoff answered, squirming slightly under the sudden and unexpected scrutiny. “I just – you know, after her haircut and everything last weekend, she told me she was gonna talk everything out with Hans. And I haven’t seen or heard from her since. Which, I mean, I– I guess _ideally_ that means everything went _super great_ and now, I dunno, they can’t keep their hands off each other, or _something_ …” He trailed off, aware that Olaf was staring at him now, eyes still narrow.

“Right,” the bartender said after a moment. “So. Great big beer for Kristoff.”

Suddenly Kristoff both felt uncomfortably aware that Olaf was much more observant than he’d ever let on before, and understood far better than ever before how the hapless redhead had landed this job.

The beer helped. The whiskey that followed helped, too.

-

For the next few days, Kristoff hit the Frosty Crocus as early as he could manage and stayed until close, even though it meant he was getting considerably less sleep than he should. But it was the only place he knew to look for her, aside from actually showing up at her apartment building and then – what? Loitering outside and waiting for her to come out? Right, because that was a totally normal thing to do. On Thursday it had been eleven days since he’d last seen her, and he didn’t get to the bar until almost nine because of a job that had gone long just outside of town.

When he arrived, Anna was sitting at the counter, resting her head in her arms, with Olaf leaning over her and saying something with a gentle, concerned smile. Kristoff’s heart dropped into his stomach at the scene, because something was clearly wrong, and all the joy he might have felt at finally seeing her again escaped him. Olaf saw him coming in and said something to Anna, who straightened up and turned to face him immediately. “Kristoff!”

“Hey! You– you had me worried for a couple days there!” he said, before he could catch himself. He crossed the room in a few long, quick steps, taken by surprise when she jumped from her seat and wrapped her arms around him. He looked at Olaf in bewilderment as he hugged her back. “Are you– are you okay?”

“I– I’m not sure,” she managed. “It’s – uh – the engagement is off.”

“Wait, what?” he asked. Pulling her off of him, he held her out to look at her face, then steered her back towards her seat. Taking the spot next to her, he leaned in close. “What happened?”

“God, uh, I don’t even know.” She ran a hand down her face. “Okay, well, so, I tried to talk to Hans about things, like you and Olaf and your family said. And I was so… so convinced it was gonna be fine. But he took it… really badly. He, uh – he made out like I was demanding so much from him, and he was already doing way more for me than reasonable, and then it just… snowballed. I guess, um, he’d been holding some things back, too.” She bit her lip, hard, and wiped a hand across her eyes. “It turns out, uh, that he didn’t… didn’t love me as much as I kinda thought he did. He said a… a lot of things.”

“Shit.” He had a lot of questions, honestly, but he wasn’t sure now was the time to ask them. “I’m… I’m sorry.”

Anna nodded and took a deep breath, then let out a deep sigh. “It’s – it took me a few days, but it’s really over,” she told him. “And I think… I think I’m probably better off.”

Kristoff bit back any response he might have had to that, and she met his eye for the first time in a while and laughed slightly. “I know. You didn’t really like him to begin with.”

“I didn’t _dis_ like him,” he answered hurriedly.

“You’re allowed to,” she said. “Hell, you’re – you’re _super_ allowed to. He’s a dick, and I refused to see it, but you could clearly tell from the way I talked about him. And you were right about, like, everything.” She frowned.

“ _That’s_ the spirit,” Olaf said, returning from serving another customer. Glancing at Kristoff, he explained quietly, “She’s been back and forth between sad and angry all night. Angry’s better. Angry gets over him faster.”

“God, I’ve been back and forth between sad and angry for a week and a _half_ ,” she admitted, taking a fresh cider from Olaf gratefully. “I couldn’t convince myself to leave the apartment at all. I hadn’t seen a human being in days, until I dragged myself over here.”

“So that’s where you’ve been,” Kristoff commented. “I wondered.”

“Yeah. Sorry.” Then, seeming to remember something, she pulled out her phone, tapped it a few times, and handed it to him. “We should swap numbers before I forget again.”

“Right.” He added his name and number, and after he hit _done_ , _Bjorgman_ fell in underneath _BASTARD._ He didn’t have to ask who that might be. When he handed it back, she immediately texted him a string of emojis – a dog, a sunshine, spinning pink hearts. He snorted and added her into his own contacts.

“So… I hate to ask, but have you spoken to your sister?” he tried hesitantly, sliding his phone back into his pocket.

Anna gave another deep sigh. “Yeah, that’s… that’s the other thing.”

“The other thing,” he repeated, raising his eyebrows a little. “That doesn’t sound… good.”

“It’s not… _bad_ ,” she answered hesitantly. “I mean. Okay. So the day after Hans and I fought, she called me. And honestly I was really exhausted and I didn’t know what she wanted or how to like… talk to her at all, at that point, but I didn’t want to _not answer_ , given how things have been, so I picked up. And I guess she had this whole, like, little speech ready. About how she’s seeing a doctor and starting to go to therapy and she has a lot of personal stuff she has to deal with before she’s ready to come home again. She promised things would be better when she got back but she asked me to give her some space until she contacts _me_ again, just so she can kind of… sort things out at her own pace. At the time I just agreed, because… it was all she wanted from me, and I didn’t know how to even _start_ to explain what had happened. So.” She looked down into her drink and shrugged. “She still doesn’t know, I guess.”

Kristoff pinched the bridge of his nose. “Your life is too complicated, kid.”

“Yeah, you’re telling me.” She took a long sip of her cider. “Anyway, I just… I just had to get out of my own head. I was wallowing. And this seemed like the obvious place to go.” He wanted to ask why, but kept it in – and yet, she glanced at him sideways and added, “Because you’re here.”

He paused. It was exactly what he wanted to hear (selfish as it was), but how did he respond to that?

“What do you need?” he asked softly, after a long moment.

Then she just smiled. “Honestly?” she said. “I need some more hugs, probably, because yours are really nice. And I need company and a good distraction and probably for you to listen when I get sad again, if that’s not too much trouble.”

“I think I can handle that,” he told her.

 

Two drinks in, Anna noticed for the first time that the Frosty Crocus had a dartboard. “I wanna play,” she said enthusiastically, and Kristoff was happy enough to oblige. What he hadn’t counted on was that even buzzed, she had _very_ good aim.

“You’ve done this before, I guess,” he laughed, pulling her darts out of the board and standing back for his own turn.

“I spent a lot of time making my own fun as a kid,” she told him, amused. His own throws weren’t bad, but they weren’t as good as hers. “I was alone too much, probably.”

“Oh yeah. You did say you spent several years not really talking to your sister much.”

“Mm.” She sat back against the bar to watch him trying to calculate his last shot. “It probably… left me a little desperate for affection. Hence some questionable decisions of late.”

Kristoff cocked an eyebrow at her, not sure if he should take the bait or not. Did it mean she needed to vent again, or was this one best left alone? But she caught his expression before he could look back away. As he made his last throw, she pursed her lips, looking frustrated.

“It’s not your fault,” he said finally, going to collect the darts again and handing them to her when he came back. “It’s his. He took advantage of you.”

Anna got up and tossed the darts in her hand for a second, wide-necked green sweater slipping off one shoulder. Then she raised her arm, ready to throw. “Fucking,” Bullseye. “Hans,” Bullseye. “Westergaard.” Bullseye.

Kristoff blinked. “Wait. Westergaard?” he asked. “As in Westergaard and Sons? The hedge fund managers?”

“Yeah.” Her last dart didn’t miss. “Why?”

“Nothing, I just…” He glanced aside. “I’ve heard some shady things about their business practices, is all.”

“Yeah. Me too.” She plucked the darts from the board with more aggression than strictly necessary.

“But… you were gonna marry him?” he couldn’t help asking.

“I thought he was different.”

 

Three drinks in it was past eleven and probably the busiest the bar would be all night. Olaf came back to check in on Anna as often as he could, and after Kristoff indulged her with a round of shots, the bartender brought them both glasses of water. The look he gave Kristoff was well-understood: _she needs this, but_ we _need to watch out for her._ Kristoff agreed. She didn’t want to face reality tonight, and she’d pretty well earned that decision, but she was tiny and emotional and neither of them wanted her to hurt herself.

“God,” she told Kristoff at one point, sipping obediently at her water. “I spent ten days in the apartment. Do you know that the _only_ person I saw that whole time was my landlord?”

“I take it that’s a bad thing,” he said, in response to her rather disgusted expression.

“Ugh.” She stuck out her tongue. “He’s this weird little old dude called Duke. He lives on the top floor with his two sons, who are _giant_ and _intimidating_ and _never talk_ , and he finds weird excuses to come into our apartment all the time and like… I don’t even know? I think he’s trying to impress us or make connections with us somehow but I don’t really get _why?_ Like it doesn’t feel like he wants to be friends. It seems like he thinks he’ll get something out of it. I just don’t know _what_.”

“Gross,” Kristoff admitted. “I guess I’m lucky. I’ve had a few shitty landlords but it’s probably not really the same experience.”

She made a show of tracing his height with her eyes, the breadth of his shoulders, before arching one eyebrow. “Probably not.” Then, pulling another face, she recalled, “He tried to convince my sister to dance with him one time. It was _weird_.”

“Definitely weird,” he agreed. “Try getting a two-seventy-five-pound molosser. It limits your options a little when you’re trying to relocate, but I can assure you, a Saint Bernard like Sven would discourage _anyone_ from messing with you.”

Anna snorted. “I’ll keep that in mind. Think I can borrow him for a trial run?”

“Sorry, me ‘n Sven are a package deal,” he chuckled. “It’s both of us or neither.”

“Hey, both of you doesn’t sound half bad,” she answered, and he glanced at her. She was smiling so earnestly, like it hadn’t even really been a joke.

 

Anna finished her fourth cider at about midnight, and she’d been stealing sips of Kristoff’s beer when she thought he wasn’t looking. He was in fact well aware – he was drunk too, by now, though not as drunk as she was – but he thought it was a little cute, how she believed she was sneaky. He caught Olaf’s eye to make sure he knew, too. They were both still keeping an eye on her.

“Olaf!” she cried the next time he was nearby, and the bartender raised his eyebrows and drew close. “I think it’s time,” she said very seriously, “for me to pay this man back.” She waved a hand at Kristoff. “Please put all of his drinks on _my_ tab tonight.” She reached over without quite looking and planted a hand awkwardly across Kristoff’s mouth before he could protest.

Olaf, trying not to laugh at the scene before him, nodded. “You got it.”

“Thank you.”

Anna had soon spent half an hour deleting photos and notes and texts from her phone, and then veered into the territory of pretending Hans didn’t exist and the engagement had never happened. She talked about anything she could think of, bringing up a new subject every time the conversation lulled – her job, Sven and how she’d always wanted a big dog, how much she’d liked the neighbourhood Kristoff’s family lived in and how she wanted to visit again, what an interesting little city they lived in and how she really had to explore it more like she and Kristoff had done that late night a week and a half earlier. Kristoff leaned his elbow on the bar and his chin on his hand, more than content to listen to her ramble and to offer a thought or two whenever it crossed her mind to pause for his input. Drunkenness made her chatty – at least for now – and it made him relaxed. It also loosened him up enough to acknowledge to himself that he not only liked her but was showing it, too, and on some level he recognised that that was dangerous, but he didn’t care _quite_ enough. He did, however, have to admit that he should probably hit the brakes after he finished his current drink. He was going to be hungover in the morning either way, but he didn’t want to still be _drunk_.

“Do you know the city well?” she was asking. “Could you show me around again? I especially loved that park we ended up in for a while – are there more like it?”

“There’s a nice one down by the lake,” he answered with a smile. “I’ll take you sometime, when the weather’s nice. If the air’s clear you can see clean across. But to be honest, if you like the parks, you should let me take you out of the city a bit sometime.”

“Wait, really?” She straightened up, interest piqued. “Where to?”

“All kinds of places,” he told her. “I spent a lot of time camping and hiking and stuff as a kid – still spend as much time out there as I can, honestly. There are a lot of really great trails and conservation areas and things not that far from here, if you’re interested.”

“ _Definitely_ ,” she agreed. “Also, I’ve never been camping! Can you believe that?”

“Never ever?” Kristoff asked, raising his eyebrows. “Not at all?”

“Never!” she said. “God, I can’t believe how much I’ve missed out on – can we go camping sometime? I mean, if you wouldn’t mind having me along?”

“I would be _glad_ to take you camping,” he told her, reaching out to put his hand over hers without thinking. “Man, you are _deprived_. I gotta get you out there as soon as possible. I was thinking of planning a trip in August when I have a week off work…”

“I could get time off in August,” Anna said eagerly, and her genuine enthusiasm made him feel warm.

 

By the time Olaf announced last call at one-thirty, Kristoff had stopped drinking an hour ago and was still feeling buzzed, but capable again. Anna, on the other hand, had by that point had four ciders, half of one of Kristoff’s beers, two shots, and a basket and a half of fries. Olaf handed her another tall glass of water with a pointed look and said, “I want you to finish that, and then figure out how you’re getting home, okay?”

“You got it, boss,” she answered, nodding solemnly and giving him a little salute. He smiled gently, amused, and headed out into the room to clear tables as the crowd thinned.

For a moment there was quiet while Anna took a long draught of the water, and then she put it down on the counter and frowned.

“You okay?” Kristoff asked.

“I uh… yeah, I guess,” she answered slowly, rubbing her arm. “I just – because of what Olaf said, I started thinking about going home.”

“Right. Well, it seems we should probably call you a cab again,” he said. “I can’t drive you, but you probably shouldn’t take the bus in this state.”

“No, it’s– it’s not that,” she said, shaking her head and crossing her arms self-consciously. She had spent the last hour or so in a mostly-positive mood, so this seemed like a sudden turnaround. “I just… don’t _want_ to go home. It’s… empty. There’s no Hans, which is good, but also no Elsa, no anything or anyone but me.” She bit her lip.

“Oh.” Kristoff’s heart sank at the way she was suddenly folding in on herself. He leaned in and pulled her into his arms. “Oh, Anna, it’s okay. Some time to yourself might be a good idea in the next little while, you know?”

“Yeah, I know,” she said in a small voice. “I’ve just… had a lot of that lately.”

He held her for a few moments longer, until she nudged her way back out of his embrace to reach for her water again. They sat in silence for a little while, drinking their water, both lost in thought.

Fifteen minutes later, their water finished, they looked at each other and both sighed. “I guess we should, um.” She coughed slightly and then swallowed, trying to cover up the fact that she was on the verge of tears. “Call that cab, now.”

Kristoff watched her for a moment, looking down and trying not to cry in front of him again, and he hated to send her home in that state. “Listen, Anna… why don’t you just come crash at my place overnight,” he finally suggested. He knew by now, even sobering up, it was damn near suicide for his own heart. But he couldn’t help it. She didn’t want to be alone and he couldn’t bear seeing her so sad. “I’ve got a pretty comfy futon in the living room that we can set up for you. That way you _won’t_ be alone, and there’ll be someone to make sure you get through the night okay, too.”

Now the tears began to spill. “A-are you sure?” Anna asked, wiping furiously at her eyes. “I wouldn’t want to impose–”

“I’m sure,” Kristoff said gently, getting to his feet. She got up as well, slipping easily back into his arms when he held them open.

He breathed slowly and deeply, rubbing her back while she got this latest round of sobs out of her system. Once she finally managed to match her breathing to his, she pulled back and nodded to him. “Olaf, I’ll pay that tab now,” she said.

On the walk back to Kristoff’s house, Anna leaned into his side, and he knew he shouldn’t, but she seemed to want it, so he looped his arm around her shoulders. It felt so nice it made his stomach hurt. Was it wrong, to enjoy the contact so much, if he was getting it while consoling her over a breakup? She obviously wanted to be held, and he wanted to hold her – but was it fair, all things considered, to indulge?

Sven greeted them at the door, glad to see them but apparently sensing once again that his usual exuberance would be a little misplaced. He licked their hands affectionately and when Kristoff led Anna to the futon in his little living room, Sven hopped up to sit next to her, his head in her lap.

Rooting around his place a little bit, Kristoff managed to put together a decent impromptu sleepover kit for Anna: a spare toothbrush from his last dentist visit, a nightgown a cousin of his had once left there and he’d laundered but never remembered to return, his old college bedding that still fit the futon mattress. He brought her a glass of water, too, and even a little bucket on the off-chance she had to throw up, though she insisted she wouldn’t.

They chased Sven back off of the futon and Anna helped Kristoff set it up as a bed, laying it down flat and pulling on the sheets. He piled pillows on top – “sometimes family will visit and then not leave as planned, and it’s amazing how many people you can sleep in a place this size if you have enough pillows,” he explained – and she sat back down, pulling her legs up onto the mattress and wrapping her arms around them.

“I don’t… want to go to sleep just yet,” she admitted softly, not meeting his eye.

“Okay.” He’d resigned himself to the heartache at this point, and now he was just here for her. He sat down too, reaching out and touching her back gently. “What do you want to do instead?”

“Well I don’t – I don’t want to keep you up,” she said, glancing at him. “I’m sure you have work tomorrow, and it’s already really late. Maybe I could just watch some TV for a while.”

“Don’t worry about me,” he said. “After tonight’s job went so much later than expected, the boss gave me the morning off. Said he’d take my morning appointment to make up for it. I don’t have to leave the house until like, two o’clock tomorrow.”

“Oh. That was nice of him.”

“Yeah. He’s a pretty decent guy.” He tugged gently at the hem of her sweater until she turned to look at him again, properly this time. “If you want me to stay a little longer, I’ll stay.”

Anna bit her lip, then nodded wordlessly. “Okay. Just a minute,” he answered, getting up again. He went to pour himself a glass of water too, then returned and grabbed the remote from the TV stand on his way back. Rearranging the pillows to lean against, he nudged her into a more relaxed position before planting himself next to her and tossing a blanket across their legs.

“How do you feel about late-night CSI reruns?” he asked.

“Sounds perfect,” she said, finally affording him another smile.

-

Kristoff woke sometime after eleven, the TV still on with the volume low. He pawed around for the remote as the last night came back to him slowly, fairly clear in spite of the alcohol, and turned it off with a small sigh. Anna was asleep on his chest, his right arm scooped around her back, and it felt wonderful and heartbreaking all at once.

At least the headache was fairly dull. He’d have to remember to thank Olaf for making sure they drank so much water.

The taste in his mouth, on the other hand, was _dreadful_.

He looked down at Anna. Her hair was coming out of its braids, stray pieces falling across his t-shirt, and her left cheek and right hand were warm against his chest. She had snuggled up to him the night before, soon after he’d turned the TV on, obviously feeling vulnerable and wanting comfort. She’d dozed off there within a half hour or so, and he hadn’t quite been able to convince himself to move – he supposed he must have conked out pretty soon after. She was messy, still dressed, a bit sweaty, and yet – his heart swelled with painful fondness.

God forbid his mother find out. He’d never hear the end of it.

Without really thinking about it, he began to trace little circles against the dip in her side with his thumb. After a minute or two she stirred with a little groan. “ _Mnuh?_ ” she managed softly, her eyes beginning to open heavily.

“Hey, sleepyhead,” he said quietly.

Her brow furrowed, likely as she tried to figure out where she was. “Kristoff?” she mumbled.

“How’s your head?” he asked, deciding that was the most pertinent question.

“Mm, hurts a lil,” she answered, pulling away from him a bit. He felt the absence more deeply than he wanted to admit. “We drank a lot, huh.”

“Yeah. You remember?”

“More or less.” She rubbed her eyes. “Enough not to be freaking out about waking up on top of you.”

Kristoff laughed. “A good start,” he said. “You want some breakfast? Cup of coffee?”

“That would be great,” she agreed with a nod. Then, stretching, “Um… if there’s any chance I could borrow your shower for a sec, too, that would be great. And do you have a phone charger I could use? My phone died last night, and I probably _should_ check it.”

“Sure, yeah,” he agreed. “Actually, there’s one plugged in under the end table on the other side of you over there.” Kicking Sven off the end of the futon, he threw off the blanket. “Uh, if you don’t mind me taking a five-minute shower first, you could use it after me while I get breakfast going.” That also gave him a chance to power-clean anything particularly unpleasant and pick up any dirty laundry. He wasn’t a total slob, but he _was_ a single man living alone with his dog, so…

“Works for me.” She collapsed back into the pile of pillows. “Gonna pass back out for a few minutes, in that case.”

“Sure.” Kristoff smiled, even though her eyes were closed, and with some reluctance levered himself out of the bed.

Upstairs he had a glance around the bathroom, grateful all of a sudden that he drew the line at mold. He cleared the counter and wiped it down, gave the toilet a fifteen-second scrub, and grabbed some fresh towels from the hall closet before his shower. He also brushed his teeth for twice as long as usual, acutely aware of his breath. Finally he picked all the blond hair out of the shower drain and then did a quick sweep of the hall, his bedroom, and his little computer room, self-consciously picking up the laundry and other crap he’d dumped on the floor. Kicking a stack of books under his bed, he headed back downstairs in a clean t-shirt and jeans, hair still damp.

“All yours,” he told her when she opened one eye to peer at him. “Door’s on your right at the top of the stairs, though there aren’t many to choose from. Fresh towels and everything, and help yourself to my shampoo and stuff if you want. ‘Fraid I don’t have any clothes to offer, though. I think they’d be a little big on you.”

“Probably,” Anna admitted, hauling herself up into a sitting position. “I think I’ll be okay in these again once I’ve cleaned myself up. Thanks.” She groaned into a stretch as she got up.

“Hang on a sec,” he said as she moved away. Grabbing the toothbrush she’d never gotten around to using last night off of the end table, he held it out to her. “You’ll probably want this too. Toothpaste’s on the counter.”

“Gee, thanks,” she said, arching an eyebrow and smiling slightly. “Very flattering.”

He laughed. “You’re no worse than I was, twenty minutes ago. You like eggs?”

 

She came back down to the kitchen wearing last night’s jeans and tank top, hair wrapped in a towel and her socks and sweater left on the futon, just as Kristoff was almost done making breakfast. Omelets, lots of toast, and two large cups of coffee. “Help yourself to whatever in the fridge,” he told her. “It’s a little sparse at the moment, but…”

“Ooh! Strawberry jelly,” she said as she peered into the refrigerator. “My favourite.”

“Can you grab the hot sauce out of the door for me?” he asked, scooping an omelet onto a plate.

“Gotcha.” Anna dumped a few condiments on the table and went back for milk to put in her coffee. “It smells great, by the way. I wouldn’t have pegged you for a cook.”

“Lucky for you, breakfast is my favourite meal of the day,” he joked. Then, handing her a plate, he admitted, “My family loves to cook. Mom taught me the basics. I’m usually lazy about it when I’m just feeding myself, but it’s a little more fun to cook for company.”

“I’m not a great cook myself,” she told him. “But in the last year or so I’ve been trying to cook with Elsa. It’s fun together.”

He nodded. “Cooking _with_ someone is always better.”

They sat down at his small kitchen table and wasted no time digging into the meal, both of them hungry after the night before. Pausing for a sip of coffee, Kristoff glanced over at her and his eyes caught on her bare arms – slim and absolutely covered in freckles. She was genuinely adorable. He liked how easy and normal it felt, having her at his kitchen table at noon, freshly showered and scarfing down his food. God, he was trying not to go down that road, but now that she and Hans were no longer engaged – no longer even _together_ – it was hard to stop himself.

Halfway through the meal, she paused to take the towel off her head, hanging it over the back of the chair behind her. Her red hair hung around her shoulders, wavy from the dampness, and he had a hard time not just watching her. He was utterly enamoured, much as he knew he shouldn’t be.

“Hey,” she said, mouth half-full, startling him out of his thoughts. “I know– I know you were drunk too, last night, at least for a while. But, um, I was wondering – is that offer to go camping still on the table?”

He raised his eyebrows. “Oh! I’d almost forgotten about that. Yeah, I mean – if you want to. Normally it’s just me and Sven, but you’d be welcome to join us, if you want to try it. I usually go for the more secluded sites, without electricity or anything, but if you’re up for that…”

Anna beamed. “I’ve never tried anything like it before, but I’m definitely willing to give it a shot!” she said. “I think it would be really fun. And, um, I like spending time with you.” Biting down on the smile, she glanced down into her coffee.

“Yeah,” he answered, smiling back and valiantly ignoring the warm feeling in his chest. “Yeah, I like spending time with you too.”

After breakfast Anna insisted on helping clean the dishes, and Kristoff felt himself sliding steadily down the slope of his fondness for her – it was just _good_ , having her there with him. Normally he was happy being alone, except for Sven and visits with his family, but everything was better with her nearby – cleaning up somehow became a little bit fun. His kitchen got a little bit brighter. When she noticed the radio in the corner of his living room and turned it on, the music was better than most days.

When her still-damp hair brushed across his upper arm, he absolutely did not think about her in his shower.

“So I have to be at work around twenty after two to pick up my truck and head out to my afternoon job,” he told her after they were done cleaning. “But if we leave soon I have time to drop you off at home before I go in.”

She sighed, smiling ruefully. “I suppose I should get out of your hair,” she agreed. “Maybe go home and put on some clean clothes.”

“Hey, you have my number now,” he reminded her, trying not to think too much about her reluctance to leave. “You can get into my hair anytime you like.” Less smooth than it sounded in his head, but she grinned, reaching up to ruffle one hand through his blond locks. It felt nice, and he just barely managed to stop himself for reaching for the ends of her own hair to return the gesture.

“That’s true.” She dropped her hand. “Thank you, Kristoff. For everything. I don’t think I would have gotten through these last few weeks without you. Actually, I… I have no idea where I’d be at this point without your help.”

He rubbed the back of his neck and glanced down self-consciously. “Well, I– I’m glad I _could_ help.”

“I’ll go get my stuff,” she told him, spinning on the ball of her foot and heading out of the kitchen.

 

Kristoff took his dinner break around five, at least two-thirds of the way through his repair job. It was unexpectedly complicated, but he’d figured out the problem and was well on his way to solving it. Challenges like that could be rather satisfying, once in a while.

Sitting on the concrete steps outside of the office building whose AC he was fixing, he munched on a sandwich and pulled his phone out of his pocket. Generally he tried not to look at it while he was working. There were a few messages from his boss, and then a text from Anna about an hour ago – _hey! nothing urgent, but could you maybe call me when you have a minute? I just have a question I wanna ask and I feel like it would be easier to talk than text._ A sweet little smiley face accompanied the message. Curious, he tapped the call button and held his phone up to his ear.

“Kristoff! Hi!” she answered, a little too energetically.

“Hey,” he answered, puzzled by her tone. “I got your text. What’s up?”

“Okay, um – listen, you’ve already done _so much_ for me, so please don’t let me impose if you have anything else going on. Or if you don’t want to deal with me, which is also allowed. But, um, I was just – I was sitting here trying to figure out what to do with myself, because it’s still really quiet. And like, I used to be _really good_ at being alone, but by now it’s been a while and I guess I’ve… forgotten.”

“The point, Anna,” he nudged gently, smiling to himself. “What do you need?”

“Right. Well, um, I think I’m gonna go back to work on Monday. Just to have something to keep me busy. But it’s Friday right now, which means I have the whole weekend to contend with, and uh. Well. I just… don’t really wanna spend it by myself,” she said. There was a pause, and he heard her take a deep breath. “And like I said, if you want a break from me or whatever that’s _fine_ , but I was just wondering if there was any chance I could spend even part of the weekend with you? I just – this apartment is full of _Elsa_ things and _Hans_ things and I’m alone here and I really felt so much better when I was with _you_ , so I just thought maybe…”

“Anna,” he said again, cutting off her ramble. She stopped. “I don’t mind. It was nice having you over. You can come back tonight and spend the weekend, if you want.” God, she was going to be the death of him. But he was starting to think he was going to die willingly, since he clearly couldn’t say no to her – didn’t even want to.

“Oh!” The fact that she seemed surprised almost amused him. After last night and this morning, he couldn’t believe she didn’t see how soft he’d grown for her. “Oh, okay, um! When do you want me to come? I’ll get a cab–”

“Nah, don’t worry about it,” he told her. “I’ll pick you up on my way home. I’m just on my dinner break now, and I think I have maybe another forty minutes’ work left after that. I’ll text you when I leave, if that works for you?”

He could hear her smiling over the phone. “Yeah. Yeah, that sounds great. I’ll see you soon.” She sounded incredibly relieved.

 

His route was actually simpler if he picked her up in his work truck and then took her back to their building with him, so that was what he did. She was so entertained peering into the back and asking questions about the equipment and his job that if it were anyone else, he would almost think he were being mocked, but no, this was just _Anna_. Anna and all of her genuine, bottomless interest in anything he had to tell her.

There was a small chance, it seemed to him, that she was absolutely too good to be real. Certainly she had flaws, but she might just be too good nonetheless.

He parked the truck in its designated spot behind their building and she hopped out, following him inside. “I only have a couple quick things to do and then we’ll head home,” he promised.

Inside the back door he signed his truck back in for the weekend, then headed for an office nearby, Anna trailing behind him. He knocked on the open door, and an older man with a beard looked up. “Ah, Kristoff. How was the afternoon?”

“Went fine. The job was a bit tricky, but in the good way.” He pulled a cheque out of his pocket and waved it before stepping forward to hand it over. “Got paid, so, y’know. A win in the end.”

Reaching to take the cheque and put it away in a locked drawer, the older man glanced up and noticed Anna hovering just outside the office door, gripping her backpack. He grinned. “Who’s this? Your girlfriend?” he asked cheekily.

Kristoff gave a good-natured eyeroll, ignoring the flop in his stomach. “This is my friend, who’s a girl,” he answered. “Anna’s staying the weekend and it was easier to pick her up on the way back here than afterward. Anna, this is my boss, Andrew Cutter.”

“Oh! Hi, Mr. Cutter,” she said, smiling and waving a little awkwardly. Kristoff hoped the girlfriend question hadn’t made her uncomfortable – Andrew was just playing, he knew that, but maybe it wasn’t as obvious to her.

Andrew smiled, as friendly as ever. “Nice to meet you, Anna. Leave him in good enough shape to come back to work on Monday morning, will you?” he teased.

“Well, I wasn’t planning to put him through anything particularly strenuous,” she answered, taken by surprise.

“All right!” Kristoff interjected. “Well, I better get things wrapped up so we can head out. I’ll see you Monday, Drew,” he said, waving quickly as he took Anna by the shoulder and steered her away down the hall.

A moment later Anna tossed him a puzzled glance. “So, um, was he implying-?”

He winced. “Yes,” he admitted. “He was only joking, I promise, but yes.”

“Hm.” She didn’t seem to have any further thoughts on the subject, and Kristoff certainly wasn’t going to pursue it any more. He slipped into the breakroom to check his inbox – a few more appointments booked for later in the month, that was fine – and then shrugged off his company shirt, leaving it on a hook on the wall in place of his denim jacket, which he folded over his arm.

“Okay. All set.” With a nod of his head, he directed her back down the hallway. By the door he clocked out for the day at a machine on the wall, then pushed back out into the evening sunshine. Past the row of company trucks were a couple of cars and his motorcycle.

“Oh – is it okay for me to wear my backpack while riding?” Anna asked, pausing. “I didn’t even think about it. I’m glad I packed light.”

“Yeah, you should be fine,” he told her. “You have a point, though. We’ll have to keep that in mind for – if it comes up again.” _For next time_ , he had almost said. Good lord. “At this rate I really _am_ going to have to get you your own helmet, though.”

She smiled, looking almost embarrassed, and his heart pounded. “I’d really like that.”

“I–” He was taken aback by that, standing there with his own helmet in hand. This girl really could be overwhelming. “Well. They’re expensive. But it’s something we could look into, I guess.” He couldn’t believe he was really considering dropping upwards of two hundred dollars just so he could keep driving her around and feel a little safer about it – this girl he’d known for a matter of weeks. But it seemed like a strangely reasonable idea at this point.

After a second, he cleared his throat, pulled on his jacket and helmet, and swung a leg over the bike. The feeling of her settling in behind him and wrapping her arms around his middle was growing pleasantly familiar, though no less lovely.

 

“I see our bed is still made,” she joked when they got in the door. He paused in the middle of hanging up his coat, and he was glad she wasn’t facing him because he was almost certainly blushing.

“Our bed?” he managed to ask, busying himself taking his boots off so he could stay in the hallway a little longer and recover his cool.

“Well, we both slept here,” she reasoned from the living room. “So.”

“Right. Yeah. I guess that’s true.” He coughed. “Anyway. I went straight from your place to work, and then from work back to your place, so I didn’t exactly have time to unmake it.”

“Oh. Duh,” she laughed, and when he looked up she was sitting on the futon with Sven, who was happily licking her face. Kristoff had to pause and catch his breath, because the sight of his beloved dog getting along so well with Anna, who was laughing at the slobbering attention, was more than his poor heart was prepared for.

“I – what do you want for dinner?” he asked, at a loss for what else to say. “I usually order in on Fridays.”

“I’m up for anything,” she told him. “I’m sure you must know better than I do what’s good around here.”

Inside of an hour, Kristoff found himself on the futon with a plate of pizza, Sven curled up at his feet, and Anna leaning into his side. A large root beer on the end table to his left and a good, mindless action movie on the TV completed what he could only describe as an ideal evening. The only thing he could think of that would make it better would be if he were allowed to kiss her every time it crossed his mind. But for now, he was happy with what he had. Mostly.

The evening disappeared to cheerful self-indulgence. Sometime after they finished an entire pizza between them, Anna found the ice cream in his freezer and they ate it straight out of the carton, giggling over it like children. The movie they were watching had a sequel and they were more than content to let it play, cheering for big explosions and fancy stunts and the eventual resolution of two of the main characters’ intense sexual tension. The silliness of the evening would almost have been embarrassing if someone knocked on the door, but as things were, Kristoff found himself surprisingly happy and unselfconscious. This was wonderful – better than he would ever have guessed, quite frankly.

Something at the end of the second movie had made Anna laugh until she collapsed onto Kristoff’s chest, and she’d stayed there. Now the credits were rolling and he’d turned the volume down for a minute and without really meaning to, he said, “Your hair smells like my shampoo.”

“Well, that makes sense, doesn’t it,” she answered, amused. “Given that I showered here.”

“I guess.” He paused. “It’s nice. I like it. I… didn’t realise it smelled that good.”

“Mm. You always smell good,” she told him. “Even if sometimes you’re a little doggy.” She was laughing, and he laughed too.

It was late and maybe it was all the giggling and his overfull stomach but he seemed to be feeling oddly honest. “I like having you here,” he said softly, reaching to toy with the ends of her hair where it laid on his chest. “I, uh… I always thought living alone was just. _Easier_. But it’s nice to have company.”

“I like being here,” she told him gladly. “So I guess that works out.”

“Yeah. I guess it does.” He was grateful she couldn’t really turn to see his face in her current position, because he was definitely blushing a little bit again. Embarrassed, he glanced up at the TV and found himself quickly distracted. “Oh my god. There’s a _third_ one. Are we watching it?”

“Obviously,” Anna answered, and he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was his dream woman.

 

“I should go to bed,” Kristoff groaned, without moving.

“You should stay right where you are.”

“Anna, it’s almost three in the morning.”

“So what? It’s also Friday. Hell, you and I have stayed up way too late _before_.”

“Ah, shit. Two days in a row I haven’t walked Sven, now,” he realised, putting a hand over his eyes.

“He seems happy enough,” she said, nudging the dog with her toes. He was fast asleep at the foot of the futon, his head resting on Kristoff’s legs. “We’ll take him out for a long walk tomorrow to make up for it.”

“Only if we get some sleep first.”

“I didn’t say you couldn’t sleep. Only that you should stay where you are.”

Kristoff took his hand away again, looking at her in the dim light from the TV. Their third movie had ended and he had muted the block of commercials that followed. She was smiling sleepily at him, leaning into his side with one hand on his chest, and god, he didn’t _want_ to move, but…

“You’re warm,” she said, maybe reading his puzzled expression. “And comfy. And last night I slept pretty well, actually. To my surprise. And I think I just… like you better here than not-here.”

“You make a compelling argument,” he murmured, caught on her eyes, entirely too aware of every reason this was a terrible decision. The thing was, it was increasingly apparent that he had absolutely zero ability to resist her, or his feelings for her. And when she was making it so easy, well… “Also, I don’t think I _can_ move without disturbing Sven.”

“Exactly. See. You know I’m right.” Anna’s smile broadened a little. “Just stay. We’ll pretend to be responsible tomorrow, if you really want. This is just… nice. It’s just nice.”

“Yeah.” He put his head back and closed his eyes, trying to ignore the klaxons blaring in his head. Not to mention the whole mess of things happening in his heart. “It is.”

“I’m glad,” she said, her voice growing more tired by the second. She yawned. “That Olaf told me to talk to you. He was right about everything.”

“Everything, hm?” he answered tiredly. Her sudden fatigue was catching, and he pawed around for the remote so he could turn off the TV before passing out this time.

“Mhm.” She tugged the elastics off the ends of her braids, tossed them aside, and snuggled further into his side. “I’m lucky to have someone that loves me.”

Kristoff’s breath caught hard, but Anna’s was already evening out as she drifted off to sleep.

-

He felt strange in the morning. Like the day before, they woke sometime after eleven, and she seemed quite well-rested – but he was a little dopey still. It had taken him a while to get to sleep, after what she’d said.

Once again he went upstairs to shower and clean up. He took a little longer than usual, trying to orient himself – what had she _meant_ last night? How did he go about _asking?_ Was he ready to discuss that? He didn’t see a way for the conversation to go that wouldn’t be difficult or complicated in at least a couple of ways.

He pulled a button-down shirt on over his tee, rolling up the sleeves and leaving it open. Anna was… so much more than he was accustomed to. She wore her heart on her sleeve, but so did his entire family, he knew, so it wasn’t that that threw him off. Or at least, not exactly. Maybe it was because she was so new to the world in so many ways. Or because she was so utterly trusting. Or that she was so full of surprises – talents and knowledge and opinions he hadn’t quite expected.

Or maybe it was just that he had never fallen so wholly in love with someone.

When he finally returned to the kitchen, combing his fingers through his damp hair, she turned and handed him a plate of pancakes. He stopped dead, staring at them and then at her, startled, heart bursting. She smiled and he was utterly _overwhelmed._

Kristoff sat down heavily, plate in hand, dumbstruck. “Hang on a minute,” she said, turning back to the stove to turn another pancake over. “I’m still working on these, but I thought I’d give you the first few. I went looking for the coffee and found pancake mix and just thought it would be nice… I hope you don’t mind.”

“I.” He stopped, felt around his brain for words. Surely he must have _something_. “I don’t.”

“I wanted to do something to thank you,” she went on. “Making breakfast doesn’t feel like _enough_ , but it’s a start.”

Kristoff looked at the plate, then at the table in front of him. She’d searched the fridge again and found the butter and his maple syrup. She had cut up a banana and served it with some raspberries (thank god for the cousin who liked to drop by with her farmer’s market spoils every so often, he thought much later). He could hear the coffeemaker running.

“Anyway, I’ll be done here in a few minutes and then I’ll join you at the table. I’ll have one more for you when I’m done, I think… I made a smallish batch.”

“Anna,” he said, the words tumbling unbidden from his mouth. “I love you.”

“I guess it’s true, what they say,” she giggled, glancing sideways at him and biting her lip. “About the way to a man’s heart being through his stomach.”

“No, I mean.” The colour drained from his face the moment he realised what he’d said. “I meant.” He faltered again. “I mean.”

“I know what you mean,” she said softly, checking the underside of a pancake carefully before flipping it.

His instinct was to insist that she _didn’t_ – though what he was going to try to claim he _did_ mean, he still wasn’t sure – but then he looked at her, at the way she was standing and twirling a finger through her hair and biting down on a smile he could just barely see at this angle, and he realised that she did, in fact, know _exactly_ what he meant.

“I’m sorry,” he said immediately. “I didn’t – I wasn’t going to say anything.”

“Butter your pancakes before they get cold,” she reminded him.

“I don’t want…” He ran a hand back through his hair, distressed. “You’ve been through a lot. I only want to be able to help. I don’t want to complicate anything.”

“You’ve helped a lot,” she said, still not looking back at him. She rocked up onto her toes for a moment. “And you haven’t complicated anything. You actually… made things simpler, kind of.”

“I was just.” He stopped, tried to collect his thoughts. “I was still thinking about last night. I was trying to figure out how to ask about… about what you said right before you fell asleep. About being lucky to have– to have someone that loved you. And then I came in here and you just handed me breakfast, and…”

“Yeah, that,” she said, laughing slightly. “I… didn’t mean to say it. Not then, I mean. I was going to wait until the end of the weekend, at least, I guess.” She poured a new pancake into the frying pan and finally turned to look at him. “Kristoff, the _butter_.”

He blinked, briefly confused, and then looked down at his naked pancakes. Almost robotically, just so it would stop distracting her, he picked up his knife and began to butter them quickly. When he was done he looked back up.

“It was Olaf,” she told him, finally satisfied. He frowned, baffled, and she laughed and continued, “You know, I was– I was talking to him at the bar the other night, before you got in. And I was saying dumb bitter things about Hans, about how I’d been such a fool to believe I’d finally found someone to love me when he clearly never really did, and Olaf stopped me and said, ‘but someone _does_ love you.’”

“He… what?”

“‘Love is when we put someone else first all the time,’ he told me,” Anna carried on, smiling and not quite meeting his eye. “‘When we take care of them no matter what and go out of our way to be there for them.’ Probably some other stuff, too, I dunno – something about trust – I wasn’t keeping good track. I was too emotional. ‘Sound like anyone you know?’ he asked. And then you came in the door like it was a damn movie.”

Kristoff coloured, his pancakes becoming interesting for the first time. He reached for the syrup and poured it over top of them, not sure what to say. Then, slowly, he looked up again.

“I don’t… want to put any expectations on you,” he told her quietly. “And I don’t… you know, I don’t want to be. A rebound. Or whatever.”

“That’s just _it_ , though,” she said, smiling even wider. “I just… so much fell into place when he told me that. So many things about being around you were so much _better_ than about being around Hans, right from the start. You’re always quick to disagree with me or argue when you think I’m wrong, or tell me when I’m being dumb. You did so much to support me through everything that happened with Elsa. You told me the truth I needed to hear even when it hurt. When I’m with you I feel happy and relaxed and like I can be so _completely_ myself and tell you exactly how I feel.” She turned around to check and flip the pancake. “Hans was… well. I think he presented a particular _version_ of himself to me that would make it seem like we were super compatible. So he agreed with me all the time, and I guess it made me feel like I was supposed to agree with _him_ all the time, too. I never felt like I could tell him when things in the relationship bothered me. And in the end, he didn’t really like me that much… he just wanted to acquire my family’s company for his own.”

“I – you didn’t tell me that part,” Kristoff said, taken aback. “I didn’t realise. Christ. I’m so sorry, Anna. No one deserves that.”

“Listen to you,” she said softly, amused. “Everything I just said, and that’s the first part you react to.”

“Should it not be?” he asked. “That rat bastard strung you along like that for your _company?_ Sounds like he deserves a hefty sock in the jaw, to say the _least_.”

Anna laughed a little. “Here’s the thing, Kristoff. I’m grateful to him, now. A week and a half at home by myself got a lot of things out of my system, and then a night with you and with all the pieces falling into place just… purged him from me completely. I’ve learned from him what I really deserve. And hell, because of him I _found_ what I really deserve. Maybe that was the whole point – maybe I was infatuated with Hans so that in the end, I could come around to falling in love with you.” She picked up the last pancake with her spatula and turned to deliver it to his plate, taking just a few steps towards the table. She dumped it on top of his existing stack. It was enormous. “I’m not rebounding, Kristoff. I love you.”

He stared at the pancake for a second, and then he looked up at her. She was still biting down on that big smile, her cheeks red, just waiting to see what he would do. And what he did was stand up, step towards her, put one hand on her lower back and the other in her hair, and kiss her soundly.

Her fingers found the collar of his button-up and held him in close, as if he might be considering escape.

“Breakfast is getting cold,” she said finally, pulling back with a smile.

“You’re gonna give me whiplash, woman,” Kristoff accused with a slight frown, chasing her lips. She giggled and let him kiss her twice more – just short ones now, quick and sweet – before pulling away a bit more deliberately. Her hands already on his chest, she pushed him gently towards his chair, and he let himself fall back into it. She moved her own chair closer to his at the little round table, quickly buttering her own pancakes before they could get any cooler.

“Oh, the coffee,” she realised immediately. She made to get up, but Kristoff put a hand out.

“I’ve got it.”

He returned a moment later with both mugs, and she was digging into her breakfast. Kristoff watched her in a kind of dazed wonder until she glanced up, laughed at him, and nodded toward his own plate. Absently, he began to eat, still watching her.

After a moment she put down her knife and he reached for her free hand, wrapping his fingers around hers and looking in awe at the difference in size. When he glanced back up to her face, she was watching him with such fondness it made his head spin. Already pulling her fingers toward his lips, he asked quietly, “You’re sure you mean it?” She nodded, once again biting down on an enormous grin as he kissed her knuckles.

“I definitely mean it,” she murmured back. “I’m– I know I seem a little too trusting, sometimes, and a little too eager. But I hope it can still mean something to you when I say that I’ve learned a lot and this really… makes so much more sense and feels so much more _right_ than anything ever did with Hans.”

He was still holding her fingers against his lips, only a little bit to hide the smile growing on his face. “I really want you to mean it.”

“I really _do_ mean it,” she assured him again.

“Good,” he answered. “Because I– I love you.” He had already said it, he knew, but he wanted to say it again.

Somehow Anna’s smile managed to grow even further. Tugging on his hand until he leaned forward and let her pull her fingers away from his lips, she leaned in as well and kissed him again.

“Wait,” he breathed when they broke apart. “Come back here.”

“You have to eat your breakfast,” she laughed.

“But…”

“No buts. I didn’t make you pancakes just to have you abandon them on the plate.”

That wasn’t a bad point. Slowly, reluctantly, he let go of her hand. “They’re good, by the way.”

“I’m glad.”

He found the willpower, finally, to finish his breakfast without any significant further interruptions. Though she did keep catching him watching her. “I can’t help it,” he defended himself eventually. He had thought he had more of an excuse than that, but he didn’t, so he shrugged and left it there.

“You know, when we met, I wouldn’t have guessed you were such a softie.”

“Don’t tell anyone,” he said, smiling and leaning his cheek on his hand. “I have a reputation to maintain.”

“And what reputation is that?” she asked, popping the last raspberry into her mouth. “Grumpy and untalkative?”

“Yes, exactly,” he confirmed.

“You’re very bad at keeping it up,” she told him, amused. “The first time we met it only lasted for a few minutes.”

“I’m just fine at maintaining it,” he contended. “ _You’re_ just very good at getting under my skin.”

“I hope that’s a good thing.”

“As it turns out, yes.” With his free hand, he reached for her – she’d given him permission to touch her and now he didn’t want to stop. His palm landed on her forearm and he stroked his thumb over her skin. “C’mere.”

“Shouldn’t we clean up?” she asked, lip caught in her teeth.

“The dishes will still be there later,” he said. It seemed she didn’t have an argument for that, because when he stood and tugged her arm gently, she followed, gladly allowing him to pull her into him and kiss her again.

And not stop for quite some time.

 

Eventually they managed to part long enough for Anna to go upstairs and shower, clean herself up, change her clothes. Kristoff cleaned up after breakfast, equal parts marvelling at how his morning had gone and trying not to think about her in his shower again. He ought not to get too far ahead of himself.

When she came back downstairs, hair damp and skin fresh, and kissed him again, he nearly melted.

“This feels weird,” he admitted, leaning his forehead against hers. “Not bad,” he clarified quickly. “Just– two weeks ago you were engaged and we barely knew each other. It’s all very… fast.”

“I can be that way,” she conceded, her arms looped up around his neck. “We can slow down if you want.”

“No, no,” he answered. “It’s– this part is wonderful. I think I’m just… a bit concerned about _you_. I want to make sure you’re okay, and sure, and… happy.” As incredible as all of this had been, he was a little worried about her own feelings still being complicated. He didn’t want to get hurt, but even more than that he didn’t want her to confuse or hurt herself.

“I’m completely sure,” Anna told him again. “Like I said, it was… a lot, for a little bit, but once things started to fall into place it all made so much _sense_. And I’m in love with you. I started falling for you before the engagement even got called off. And sure, I guess even if I’m past Hans I might still be… sensitive, in certain ways. But part of what makes all of this feel so right is that you make me feel better, and you know how to be _gentle_ when I’m sensitive.” Her embrace tightened a little. “I want this.”

“Me too,” he breathed, opening his eyes just a little. He found her looking up at him with admiration and felt his heart pounding in his chest – had it slowed even once, over the last hour or so? “So much.”

“Okay.” She nodded a little, her bangs sticking to his. “So, we’ll just… make sure we communicate. We’ll take it one step at a time and as long as we communicate we’ll be fine. Right?”

Kristoff smiled. “Right.”

After a while they agreed that the weather was lovely and that Sven had more than earned a long walk for all of his patience, so they pulled on their shoes and clipped on his leash and headed outside. Kristoff marvelled at the feeling of her tiny fingers clasped in his own – at the idea that he was allowed to do this whenever he felt like, now. They took off in a different direction than they had last time, Kristoff deliberately leading the way towards a nice park he thought Anna would like. He also knew that he could take Sven off his leash there and no one would complain.

When they reached the park, there were some kids on the playground in the distance, but they stopped in the rarely-used soccer field and Kristoff produced a collapsible fabric Frisbee from his pocket. He and Sven spent a while showing off for Anna, demonstrating what a good catch Sven was – he caught the Frisbee every time, no matter how far it flew, and sometimes had to jump several feet in the air to retrieve it.

When all the activity tuckered Sven out, the three of them retreated to the trees growing alongside the field and stretched out in the grass. Sven lay splayed out, panting and happy, and Kristoff leaned back with his head next to the dog’s. Anna, after a moment’s contemplation, tucked herself into Kristoff’s side, using his shoulder as a pillow. He wrapped his arm around her back and pulled her close.

“The weather’s so nice,” he observed with a smile, tracing his fingers up and down Anna’s bare freckled arm.

She nodded against him. “I feel… really good about everything.”

“Everything?”

She nodded again. “Even Elsa. I think she’s going to be okay. I just… I just feel like it’s all going to be all right.”

“I hope you hear from her soon.”

“Me too.”

 

It was late afternoon by the time they wandered back home, still hand-in-hand and smiling too much and getting distracted with kisses. Together they grilled ham-and-cheese sandwiches for a lazy dinner and Anna told Kristoff about all of the things she’d taught herself to do in her free time as a kid, back when she and Elsa were being homeschooled but otherwise spent very little time together. When she started in on music – years of piano, she said, half gleaned from her mother and half worked out on her own – he admitted to having a guitar sitting upstairs, slightly neglected in recent years, and she made him promise to play it for her sometime. She asked about his job and he explained the way he had just kind of stumbled into it – he’d always been handy and Mr. Cutter had actually known his biological parents, so he’d been happy to hire Kristoff when he needed work fresh out of high school. He had even helped pay for Kristoff to go to trade school and learn the work more thoroughly. Kristoff was a quick study, and now he was one of Cutter’s most reliable employees.

Sunday was similarly lazy until mid-afternoon, when Anna’s phone began to ring. She picked it up and peered at it curiously, then sat bolt-upright. “It’s Elsa,” she said.

Kristoff raised his eyebrows. “Well then? Answer her!”

“I– yeah. Of course.” She got up from the futon, tapping her screen, and retreated into the kitchen to take the call.

Kristoff waited a while, looking at his own phone in an effort to distract himself from the burning curiosity and concern. Finally, after fifteen or twenty minutes, Anna returned, gnawing her lip and rubbing her arm. He jumped to his feet.

“You okay?” he asked, gently taking hold of her arms behind the elbows and leaning down to peer into her face.

She nodded. “Yes– yeah.” Clearing her throat and taking a deep breath, she looked up at him and smiled a little. “Yeah. I guess someone at work called her to ask a question, and mentioned my absence, and she asked why I’d been gone, and they explained – she felt terrible, hearing the news of the breakup second-hand like that, and not being here for me, but I told her I was fine. A little sensitive, probably, but fine, and I didn’t want to bother her.” She looked a little sheepish, now. “It’s silly. I think we both feel guilty, now, for… making things more difficult for one another.”

“Well… given what your relationship has been like in recent years, that makes some sense,” he pointed out slowly. “You’re still learning how to communicate with each other.”

“Yeah.” Anna sighed. “Anyway. I didn’t think it was a good idea to keep anything from her, so I went ahead and told her the truth about us, too.” He grimaced, and she laughed slightly. “Yeah, that’s fair. She wasn’t… wild about it. But she let me explain myself, which means a lot. It means she’s feeling better, too, I think. She admitted that when we stopped by her apartment awhile back and you came in for a minute – well, when she thought about it later, it looked to her like you cared a lot more about me than she’d ever seen Hans do.”

He scrunched his nose. “I feel like that says more about how awful Hans is than about how good _I_ might be.”

She giggled. “Well. I made a case for you, as well as I could. And I– I know I like to rush things. But I swear – and I guess I’m telling _you_ this, as well as her – that this is really what I want, and that I’ve been falling for you since the night we met, after a fashion, and that I’m being more careful this time. Thinking ahead. We’re not going to rush. I just don’t see the point in not being together when we both want to be together.”

“Of course we won’t rush,” Kristoff agreed. “I kind of – assumed that was a given, honestly.”

“Right.” She nodded decisively. “Anyway, I told her she’d like you. She never liked Hans much at all, you know. Never trusted him. But I’m certain she’d trust you more, certain she’d get along with you if she gave you a chance. And um, surprisingly, she promised she would spend time with the two of us and really give you a shot before making any judgments, as long as I promised to let her take it at her own pace and listen to her if she had any real concerns after a while.”

“That seems reasonable,” he said. “Honestly, that seems _very_ reasonable.”

“That’s what I thought, too,” she said. She ran a hand back through her hair, then leaned forward into his chest. “It all seemed like… a lot. I’m sure it was for her, too. But, um, she said maybe the three of us could get lunch together sometime later in the week, or something, depending on how she’s feeling. And she might try to come home soon, at least for a visit – hang onto the other place, at least for a little while, in case she needs some space, but. It’s something.”

“It is.” He kissed the top of her head, folding his arms around her. “That all sounds really promising, actually. I’m hopeful for you.”

“Me too,” she admitted, smiling against his shirt. “I’m hopeful for all of us.”

 

-

 

Elsa was already waiting outside, pulling her sweater a little tighter against the brusque late-autumn wind, when Kristoff and Anna rounded the corner by the Frosty Crocus, nudging each other and giggling like children. Watching them in amusement, Elsa arched one eyebrow when they noticed her by the door. “Sorry,” Kristoff called out sheepishly, quickening his step a little. “I know we’re late. My fault. I was, uh – doing stuff.”

Anna came up just behind him with a smug grin on her face. “He was _doing–_ ”

Kristoff jumped and clapped a hand over her mouth with a strangled noise, setting both girls laughing.

Once the two of them had stopped giggling – and Kristoff had managed to calm the blush crawling up his neck – they headed inside the bar, and Olaf lit up when he saw them. “My favourite customers!” he cried cheerfully, already turning around to grab clean glasses and the usual drinks. He knew their usual orders well by now: craft beer for Kristoff, local cider for Anna (except on the rare nights that she was in the mood for a cocktail), and a rather classier martini for Elsa. The three of them took their favourite stools at the bar as he poured.

“So how’s life, everybody?” Olaf asked, mixing Elsa’s cocktail. “Are we all keeping well? Anything exciting happen in the last week or so?”

“I’m officially back at work full-time,” Elsa reported with a small smile.

“And she’s been living at home most of the time, too!” Anna added excitedly. Kristoff couldn’t help smiling at the way she glowed, overjoyed to be recovering her relationship with her sister. “She stayed home four nights this week!”

“That’s awesome!” Olaf handed Elsa her glass with a broad grin. “So you’ve been feeling better, then, I take it!”

She nodded. “Things are getting better, slowly but surely. It’s good to keep my second apartment for a little personal space, plus it’s closer to the office which is handy for the occasional late night… but stuff is definitely improving.”

It had taken a while for Elsa to get back to both her job and the apartment she shared with Anna. She was working through a lot of things that had gone unaddressed for years, only to come to an alarming head when Anna first got engaged to Hans. Though Kristoff wasn’t privy to the finer details, it seemed that a combination of medication and regular therapy was doing her a lot of good. He was glad of that – he liked Elsa, and even more, he _loved_ how happy it made Anna that they were getting closer again.

The three of them had been trying to spend time together, as well, in an effort to make things more comfortable than Anna’s last relationship had been. So far Kristoff got the general feeling that Elsa both liked and trusted him a fair bit more than she ever had Hans, and Anna seemed to think so as well. That was encouraging in its own right. He would hate for anything to come between himself and Anna, but it would probably be even worse how heartbroken Anna would be to lose her sister yet again.

Kristoff had been sitting and listening contentedly as the girls chattered with Olaf about work for a few minutes, but suddenly Anna turned to face him, beaming. “Hey!” she said, reaching up to boop his nose.

He laughed lightly. “Hey, yourself,” he answered, trying not to let on how much it boggled his mind every single time she looked so lovingly at him. He had no idea what he’d done to deserve her, but he adored her completely.

“How ya doin’ over here?” she asked. “You’ve been quiet!”

“I’m good,” he told her, still smiling as she fixed his hair. “It’s nice just to listen, sometimes. I like seeing how happy you are when we hang out with Elsa.”

Anna bit down on her growing smile. “I love you so much,” she told him, entirely unselfconsciously, before leaning up for a kiss. There had been a time when Kristoff wasn’t a big fan of such affectionate displays in public, but with Anna he couldn’t bring himself to feel anything but wonderful every time. He let her kiss him gladly, tuning out Olaf’s sounds of delight.

(“Look at these two. It’s _true love_ ,” Olaf said to Elsa, who only laughed. It sounded like such a silly idea to Kristoff – _true love_ , what did that even mean? – but also, maybe, just a little bit accurate.)

“I love you too,” he murmured back, watching her admiringly when she finally pulled away. His head spun from the way she looked up at him, and he knew without a shadow of a doubt – not for the first time – that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with this woman, though god knew he wouldn’t be mentioning it anytime soon.

No, they were going to be together for a good, long time before brought up anything like _marriage_.

Kristoff didn’t even mind Olaf so much anymore – at least, not when Anna and Elsa were around, too. They were both quite happy to chat with the goofy bartender for as long as he liked, which was a pretty long time. And as long as Anna kept leaning into him a little bit like that, Kristoff thought he could probably sit through _years_ of Olaf’s inane, meandering conversation before losing his patience.

A little later in the evening, after the girls had indulged a couple of drinks each and gotten a little giggly, Elsa leaned across the counter in front of her sister to point at Kristoff. “ _Hey_ ,” she said, and he raised his eyebrows. “I’ve been meaning to ask you. What was the name of that cute girl at the deli that you two took me to a few days ago?”

For a second he was a little taken aback, but Anna seemed _delighted_. “Wait, Frida?” she asked, hands flying to her cheeks. “Isn’t she just the _sweetest?_ ”

Elsa grinned, obviously a little tipsy, and twirled the end of her braid around her finger. “She was adorable.”

Anna turned briefly to exchange an excited glance with Kristoff, and he realised that _she_ was taken by surprise, as well, but it didn’t dampen her enthusiasm one bit. “Kristoff has known her since they were kids!” Anna told her sister. “I bet he could find a way to get you guys talking!”

“I mean, I don’t want to _impose_ , but…”

There was something oddly… _relieving_ about the idea, Kristoff concluded after a moment. While he wasn’t sure if Elsa’s interest would be mutual, she and Frida would probably get along quite well. It was a strange thought, for a moment, but also a pleasant one. Frida and Elsa both deserved someone to care about them…

“Yeah, I’m sure I could figure something out,” he offered finally. “Gimme a little time to think it over.”

“Didn’t your mom say something about a block party coming up in their neighbourhood?” Anna asked him. “Would Frida be there?”

“Definitely,” he said with a nod. “That’s a decent thought. And the introduction would be easy. I’m just wondering if there’d be an obvious way to get them talking…”

“We need more drinks,” Anna decided cheerfully, turning back towards the bar counter.

“Olaf,” Elsa called, raising a finger, and he trotted back over with a smile. “I think I would like to open a tab.”


End file.
